Preview Newsletter
PM ACC Clips Report - April 16, 2019
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(ACC Mentioned) Taking Aim at Ocean Plastics
Apr 16, 2019 | Plastics News
By Bill Bregar
Public service spots in the early 1970s showed Iron Eyes Cody clad in a Native American costume shedding a tear about trash fouling the land. Keep America Beautiful. But nearly five decades later, litter has fallen off society's radar... -
(ACC Mentioned) Manufacturers Step Up Defense of EPA Air Permit Guidance
Apr 16, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Amena H. Saiyid
An owner of a new or upcoming refinery, power plant, or factory shouldn’t need Clean Air Act permits if its emissions increases are indistinguishable from natural air-quality variability, groups for paper and petrochemical manufacturers... -
Interior’s Watchdog Opens an Ethics Probe into Bernhardt Four Days After His Senate Confirmation
Apr 15, 2019 | Washington Post
By Darryl Fears
The Interior Department’s internal watchdog opened an investigation into ethics complaints against former oil and gas lobbyist David Bernhardt on Monday, four days after the Senate confirmed him as the agency’s secretar -
IG Opens Bernhardt Investigation
Apr 16, 2019 | E&E - Greenwire
By Michael Doyle
The Interior Department's Office of Inspector General has "opened an investigation" into alleged activities by new Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, in a move that administration critics say lengthens a familiar shadow on the... -
US EPA Proposes Amendments to CDR Rule
Apr 16, 2019 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
The US EPA has proposed changes to its TSCA chemical data reporting (CDR) rule in an effort to reduce the burden it poses. The proposed rule to update the reporting scheme – which generally requires manufacturers to report... -
EPA Seeks More Data, More Comment on Pigment Chemical Risks
Apr 16, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
The EPA will give interested parties a second chance to comment on the agency’s conclusions that Pigment Violet 29 doesn’t pose an unreasonable risk. The chemical is used to color coatings and make other dyes in a wide range of... -
US FDA Bans 28 Substances from Hand Sanitisers
Apr 16, 2019 | Chemical Watch
By Vanessa Zainzinger
The US FDA has issued a final rule barring 28 active ingredients from use in over-the-counter consumer antiseptic rubs, such as hand sanitisers. In future, such products containing any of the substances (see box below) will have to... -
Walmart Sets 2025 Chemicals Target for Textiles Suppliers
Apr 16, 2019 | Chemical Watch
By Leigh Stringer
Retail giant Walmart has set a goal to reduce the discharge of priority chemicals from the manufacturing processes of its textile and apparel suppliers by 2025. Walmart's priority chemicals are identified from regulatory lists, including... -
Rocky Mountain Arsenal Continues to Leak Contaminants into Groundwater, Colorado Health Department Lawsuit Says
Apr 16, 2019 | Denver Post
By Kirk Mitchell
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has sued the U.S. Army claiming that dangerous chemicals including pesticides continue to leach into groundwater at Rocky Mountain Arsenal. -
Another Battlefront Opens for NatGas as Nuclear Subsidies Bill Lands in Ohio
Apr 16, 2019 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Jamison Cocklin
Yet another bill to support struggling nuclear power plants with state subsidies has been introduced, this time in Ohio, where... -
Domestic Crude Exports Nearly Doubled in 2018, Says EIA
Apr 16, 2019 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Jeremiah Shelor
U.S. crude oil exports nearly doubled in 2018, rising to 2.0 million b/d versus 1.2 million b/d in 2017 as domestic volumes reached 42 destinations across the globe, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). -
US Oil Output Could See Change of Pace as Producers Rein in Spending
Apr 16, 2019 | S&P Global Platts
By Starr Spencer
Upstream oil and gas producers in the US are trapped in a dilemma they might have previously thought would be desirable: abundant production at low cost. For decades, higher production from oil companies was what the market... -
Not All Biogas Is Created Equal
Apr 15, 2019 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Joe Rudek and Stefan Schwietzke
In this climate-conscious economy, where many consumers demand cleaner energy options, gas companies are exploring more opportunities to reduce their carbon footprint. One option gaining traction is biogas – a form of... -
Book Detailing Impacts of 'Corporate Fracking' Wins Pulitzer
Apr 16, 2019 | E&E - Greenwire
By Scott Streater
A book that chronicles the health and financial impacts of hydraulic fracturing on a family and the southwest Pennsylvania region yesterday won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction. Eliza Griswold's... -
Shipping LNG by Rail Proposed by Trump
Apr 16, 2019 | Kallanish Energy
President Trump has proposed moving natural gas via railcars, a move that would serve new markets, but that critics say could risk horrible accidents, Kallanish Energy reports. Trump last week ordered the Department of... -
Feed Gas Introduced into Train 1 at Cameron LNG
Apr 16, 2019 | Oil & Gas Journal
Train 1 of the Cameron LNG project in Hackberry, La., has reached the final commissioning stage, marking the transition from construction to startup, said McDermott International Inc. Since the initial award in 2014, McDermott... -
The Energy 202: EPA Tried Speeding up Its Science Reviews. Now the Reviewers Say It Won't Work.
Apr 16, 2019 | Washington Post
By Dino Grandoni
The Environmental Protection Agency's decision last year to disband an air pollution science panel may be coming back to bite the administration. Last October, the Trump administration dissolved the panel of outside experts... -
Ewire: Warren Pledges to Restore Obama-Era Environmental Policies
Apr 16, 2019 | Inside EPA
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is pledging to reimpose the Obama-era Clean Water Act (CWA) rule and impose a “total moratorium” on new fossil fuel leasing on federal lands if she is elected president in 2020, part a series of steps she is...
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(ACC Mentioned) Taking Aim at Ocean Plastics
Apr 16, 2019 | Plastics News
By Bill Bregar
Public service spots in the early 1970s showed Iron Eyes Cody clad in a Native American costume shedding a tear about trash fouling the land. Keep America Beautiful.
But nearly five decades later, litter has fallen off society's radar screen — litter on land, that is, according to a civil engineer speaking at Antec 2019. But litter in the oceans? That's a different story.
"We have forgotten this litter awareness over a period of time. I've just seen it evaporate in my lifetime to the point where there's such a thing as 'litter blindness,' and it's worldwide," said Thomas Sprehe, senior vice president at KCI Technologies Inc. in Sparks, Md., just north of Baltimore. "I've been in the nicest neighborhoods in Rio de Janeiro. Million-dollar houses. And the streets are just covered with litter, outside. It's just an incredible ability to be blind to something that is so obnoxious and gross. But for some reason, [litter blindness] is a little less prominent when it gets to marine litter. You see litter in the water; it's incredibly powerful, sort of an eye-catching thing."
Sprehe was one of the speakers at a session on ocean plastics at the Society of Plastics Engineers' Antec conference in Detroit. The diverse range of speakers covered a technical look at how ocean plastics break down, biodegradability and Sprehe's topic: how to set up trash barriers where a river empties into the sea.
Litter starts on land, then if it's not properly disposed of, it can end up in the river then into a larger body of water. Rivers end up being good trash collectors, he said. Once it gets into the ocean, plastic waste is hard to remove.
"You can take a large area — 60 or 70 square miles of land — and compress that litter into the mouth of the river. And you've got a chance to get it before things go completely crazy, in terms of cost and difficulty," Sprehe said. He is also KCI's director of innovation and technology.
One problem is that government policies for ocean waste still largely focus on the sewer overflow model: When it rains really hard, stormwater and sewage runoff runs through combined sewer overflows, and the foul stuff gets diluted. But in the case of plastic, Sprehe said, the problem gets worse the more rain you get. Sprehe said regulations are starting to recognize the problem of waterborne plastics.
Sprehe said Europe is far ahead of the United States in dealing with the issue as well as moving to a circular economy.
He put up slides of simple booms strung across the mouth of rivers. The problem is, once the plastic builds up, how do you remove it from the middle of the river?
Steve Russell, vice president of the American Chemistry Council's plastics division, was on a panel discussion at the ocean plastics session. Earlier, he addressed the issue in a keynote speech during Antec.
"Our system has failed to keep up with the pace of growth and access to consumer goods," he said.
Much of the ocean waste comes from developing countries in Asia that do not have adequate trash collection systems, Russell said. Rain washes the plastic away, eventually to the ocean.
To help tackle the global ocean plastics problem, industry companies have created the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, raising $1 billion.
Another speaker at the ocean waste session explained how plastics break down into smaller pieces. Anthony Andrady, an adjunct professor of chemical engineering at North Carolina State University, said the beach is where much of the degradation happens.
Citing laboratory research, he said the outer surface of a plastic fragment has a different chemistry from the inner area.
"So if you keep this in the beach, the drying and wetting of this, or even hot-cold changes, would impact the expansion and contraction of the two layers, so that the outer layer would crack and disengage from the bulk very easily," Andrady said.
Some degradation does happen on surface water, through oxidation.
More research needs to be done to see if these microplastics continue to break down into nano-sized particles, Andrady said. These could get into drinking water and food and enter the human body.
"There's no cause for immediate concern, but we don't know what nanoparticles would do to the human system. But there's a lot of caution that is justified," he said.
Commitment to capture
Leaders of Envision Plastics, a recycler based in Reidsville, N.C., made a commitment to collect and recycle 10 million pounds of ocean-bound plastic over two years through its OceanBound Plastic program. Sandra Lewis, director of business development, said it targets coastal communities that do not have a formal waste system — like Haiti, one of the world's poorest countries.
About 10 years ago, Envision Plastics was approached by Method Products, which wanted to package its liquid soap in bottles from ocean waste in Hawaii.
Lewis told the story: "There's this one particular beach where a lot of plastic washes up and accumulates on this beach. So they were gonna go to Hawaii, pick up all this plastic off the beach, ship them to our plant in California. We were gonna magically recycle it, and they were gonna turn it into a new bottle," she laughed. "If anybody knows about recycling, that is a lot harder than it sounds."
Envision Plastics received the material, which included a few kayaks, a toilet set, a fishing net, and even a bag of dog poop, she said.
The actual plastic pieces were not good after degrading on the beach.
"It's been sitting in the sun, the sand, the salt, and literally crumbled in our hands when we received it. And we're like, this is never going to make a new product," Lewis said.
So Envision watered down the ocean plastic in a solution and added 90 percent of its post-consumer HDPE from its main recycling business.
"That's the ratio we use. And they were able to make a bottle with it," she said.
When the Method bottle came out, the recycling company was flooded with calls. But Lewis had to tell them that Method had collected a few thousand pounds of beach plastic, and there was no more.
Envision then started OceanBound Plastic.
"It's this program to pay people to go pick up plastic. They turn it in. They get paid for it. But the company we picked to work with has gone through this very rigorous auditing process," she said. "Our partner in Haiti today has 9,000 pickers registered for him to collect plastic. So that created 9,000 jobs in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. One supersack of plastic, when they redeem it, feeds a family of four for a week."
Today, OceanBound Plastic is working in some regions of Mexico, and officials are looking expanding to Honduras, Lewis said.
The plastic gets shipped to Envision for reprocessing.
"The reason we did this was because we wanted to give companies and brands confidence that there is a lot of this material. We can collect it and recycle it. And we will have it available to you," she said.
Envision is nearing the mark of 10 million pounds. Unfortunately, Lewis said, she has sold maybe 10 percent of it.
Jennifer Ronk of Dow Chemical Co. said companies need to design products upfront for a circular economy and collaborate more widely with other parties. Some are calling for bans of plastics.
"We can lead and give them different solutions for how we can work to solve this problem together," Ronk said.
True biodegradability
Ramani Narayan, a Michigan State University professor, called for true biodegradability to be part of the answer — but he insisted it must be done in a municipal composting center.
Companies can't call a product "compostable" unless it goes into a composting environment where microorganisms break the plastic down and complete biodegradation happens, he said. The term biodegradable "has been abused and misused," said Narayan, a professor at MSU's Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science.
He said whether something is "compostable" has to be quantified and certified by a third-party lab. Narayan drew laughter when he quipped, "You can call anything biodegradable. You are biodegradable; everything is biodegradable. Given time and environment, everything will disappear. So we should have no problems. But we have a lot of problems."
Narayan also addressed confusion about "bio-based" plastics, saying that they are not necessarily biodegradable. "I want to leave you with the fact that, just because you have a bio-based product, you still need to address end of life. And this is where we are not fulfilling the role," he said.
https://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20190416/NEWS/190401689
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(ACC Mentioned) Manufacturers Step Up Defense of EPA Air Permit Guidance
Apr 16, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Amena H. Saiyid
An owner of a new or upcoming refinery, power plant, or factory shouldn’t need Clean Air Act permits if its emissions increases are indistinguishable from natural air-quality variability, groups for paper and petrochemical manufacturers, steel producers, and electric utilities told a federal appeals court.
The groups, in a brief filed April 15, are backing Environmental Protection Agency guidance that allows federal and state permitting agencies to decide when pollution from new or expanded facilities would lead to air quality violations in areas that already are free of smog and haze.
The groups also are arguing against the Sierra Club, which is challenging the direction that the EPA gave to federal and state agencies.
The Sierra Club contends that “any” added pollution could cause these areas to become so polluted as to violate federal air quality standards for ground-level ozone and fine airborne pollution. Both pollutants are associated with aggravating heart and lung diseases.
The Sierra Club has received funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the charitable organization founded by Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg Environment is operated by entities controlled by Michael Bloomberg.
The industry groups say they support the EPA guidance, which—if adopted by state and federal permitting agencies—will free them from what they consider costly and time-consuming air quality analysis for emissions increases that barely affect air quality.
Memo at Issue
At issue is an April 2018 memo in which the EPA announced revisions to metrics known as significant impact levels. The impact levels set thresholds under the Clean Air Act for how much pollution can be emitted by large sources during construction or expansion.
The April 2018 revisions increased nearly fourfold the threshold for emissions of fine particulate matter that affect national parks and wilderness areas.
The EPA’s interpretation is consistent with the Clean Air Act, the coalition of industry groups argued. The coalition includes the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Chemistry Council, the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, and American Iron and Steel Institute.
Congress didn’t say new construction or expansion of pollution-causing projects would result in “no impact.” Rather, Congress asked whether it would cause or contribute to a violation of the standards, the groups argued.
Under the prevention of significant deterioration permitting program, new or expanded sources must demonstrate through an analysis whether they will increase emissions that degrade air quality.
The industry groups say this analysis can be the most resource-intensive and time-consuming part of the permitting process. They said the EPA’s guidance gives permitting agencies the option to consider whether the increase in emissions warrants the need for a permit.
The case is Sierra Club v. EPA, D.C. Cir., No. 18-1167, brief filed 4/15/19.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/manufacturers-step-up-defense-of-epa-air-permit-guidance
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Interior’s Watchdog Opens an Ethics Probe into Bernhardt Four Days After His Senate Confirmation
Apr 15, 2019 | Washington Post
By Darryl Fears
The Interior Department’s internal watchdog opened an investigation into ethics complaints against former oil and gas lobbyist David Bernhardt on Monday, four days after the Senate confirmed him as the agency’s secretary.
A spokeswoman for Interior’s inspector general’s office, Nancy DiPaolo, said the probe is “based on requests from multiple lawmakers and others.” At least eight senators who chastised Bernhardt during his confirmation hearing, including Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), called for an investigation. Numerous conservation groups also submitted demands for inquiry into potential conflicts of interest.
In a letter to the executive director of one of the groups, the Campaign for Accountability, Inspector General Mary L. Kendall wrote that her office “received seven complaints, including yours, from a wide assortment of complainants alleging various conflict of interest and other violations by then deputy secretary of the interior, David Bernhardt."
“We are continuing to gather pertinent information about the complaints and have opened an investigation to address them,” Kendall added. “We will conduct our review as expeditiously and thoroughly as practicable."
Throughout his confirmation process, Bernhardt and his allies in the Senate maintained that he has complied with the agency’s ethics guidelines and has hired additional ethics officers to strengthen them.
“It is important to note that the department ethics office has already conducted a review of many of these accusations at Mr. Bernhardt’s request and determined that [he] is in complete compliance with his ethics agreement and all applicable laws,” Faith Vander Voort, a department spokeswoman, said in a statement sent by email.
Vander Voort included a list of actions Bernhardt took as acting secretary before his Senate confirmation, such as elevating the ethics office as a division that reports to the solicitor, hiring more full-time ethics professionals and giving them the power to raise concerns “more quickly and more directly.”
But as a deputy to former secretary Ryan Zinke, who departed office in December under a cloud of internal investigations, Bernhardt played a pivotal role in policy changes that stood to benefit his former clients.
Months after he was confirmed as a deputy in 2017, Bernhardt guided decisions to roll back endangered species protections enforced by the Fish and Wildlife Service, open massive acreage of public lands to more gas drilling, and weaken safety rules for ocean oil production platforms.
A year later, Interior reinterpreted the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in a way that took that teeth out of enforcement. The department issued guidance to wildlife police who enforce the law that an individual or group cannot be held liable for killing birds under many circumstances.
As an example, it said, “all that is relevant is that the landowner undertook an action that did not have killing of barn owls as its purpose.” But farmers reckoning with barn owls pales in comparison to operations with oil pits that kill multitudes of birds. In addition, Interior decided to no longer bill offshore oil and gas operations for leaks that kill birds under the act.
Lawmakers in the House also expressed concern about Bernhardt’s transparency in documenting his daily meetings with staffers and people outside the department.
Bernhardt has so many potential conflicts of interest from his time as a lobbyist that he carries a card to remind himself what parties to avoid to stay in compliance with ethics rules.
Yet his staff adopted a practice of preparing “a daily card” with Bernhardt’s detailed schedule on a Google document in a way that withheld information from the public. A detailed accounting of his meetings as acting secretary was prepared the evening prior to the following workday. But that document was erased each day when it was overwritten to reflect his appointments for the following day.
The practice is a significant departure from that of his predecessors, who kept more-detailed calendars that identified those with whom they were meeting and when, and made the information available to the public on the agency’s website.
Reps. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) and Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) demanded more transparency from Bernhardt.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/04/15/interiors-watchdog-opens-an-ethics-probe-into-bernhardt-four-days-after-his-senate-confirmation/?utm_term=.4554a92618cc
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IG Opens Bernhardt Investigation
Apr 16, 2019 | E&E - Greenwire
By Michael Doyle
The Interior Department's Office of Inspector General has "opened an investigation" into alleged activities by new Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, in a move that administration critics say lengthens a familiar shadow on the department's leadership.
Acting just four days after Bernhardt won Senate confirmation and took office, Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall advised lawmakers and an outside watchdog group yesterday that inquiries have entered the investigation phase following preliminary reviews.
"The [OIG] has received seven complaints, including yours, from a wide assortment of complainants alleging various conflict of interest and other violations by then-Deputy Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt," Kendall wrote to the Campaign Legal Center.
Kendall added in a letter to others who had lodged complaints that "we are continuing to gather pertinent information" about the complaints and will "conduct our review as thoroughly and as expeditiously as possible."
Last fiscal year, Interior's OIG opened a total of 82 investigations, in addition to audits of departmental operations. With the assignment of a case number, investigators will first define the scope of the inquiry.
Down the road, investigators could keep everything under one umbrella or, potentially, split off distinct lines of inquiry.
Department officials defended Bernhardt's actions.
"It is important to note that the department ethics office has already conducted a review of many of these accusations at Mr. Bernhardt's request and determined that he is in complete compliance with his ethics agreement and all applicable laws," Interior spokeswoman Faith Vander Voort said in a statement.
Vander Voort added that Bernhardt is "hopeful the Inspector General will expeditiously complete a review of the facts associated with the questions raised by Democratic Members of Congress and DC political organizations."
The questions revolve around several distinct issues and former law-and-lobbying clients of Bernhardt's, including California's water-hungry Westlands Water District.
In its 15-page complaint, the Campaign Legal Center cited "recent reports" in the media suggesting that Bernhardt violated a Trump administration ethics pledge by participating in Westlands-related decisionmaking after joining Interior as deputy secretary (E&E News PM, Feb. 26).
Under his ethics pledge signed Aug. 10, 2017, Bernhardt committed not to participate for two years in any "particular matter" on which he had lobbied within the two years preceding his Interior appointment. The complaints assert that he may have broken that vow with Interior discussions about irrigation water deliveries that could aid Westlands.
"The American public deserves to have the basic confidence that their Interior Secretary is looking out for their interests — protecting public land, species, the air and the water — and not the interests of former industry clients," said Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) in a statement.
Udall, ranking member on the Senate Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, joined Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), chairwoman of the counterpart House Appropriations subcommittee, in one of the letters requesting an IG investigation.
In response, Interior officials cited a 16-page memo prepared by department ethics officers that concluded the Central Valley Project irrigation water delivery-related decisions in California were general "matters" on which "employees would not be required to recuse."
"Matters" are identified as "broad policy options that are directed to the interests of a large and diverse group of persons" that may include, but are not limited to, specific entities like Westlands.
Two other Democratic lawmakers, Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, wrote separately to urge an investigation of allegations that Bernhardt in 2017 blocked a Fish and Wildlife Service study of pesticides' impact on endangered species (E&E News PM, March 29).
"Like with so many of his colleagues in Donald Trump's cabinet, Secretary Bernhardt has extensive conflicts of interests and is hostile to the mission of the Department he leads," Hirono said in a statement, adding that "this new investigation ... will get to the bottom of what happened so that we can hold the Secretary accountable."
Bernhardt offered his own explanation of the episode, during brief questioning by Wyden during his Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee confirmation hearing.
"When I read the [pesticide] document, I said, 'This is really an interesting draft,' but it clearly didn't have any legal review, and in our world, you can't ignore the law," Bernhardt said. "So I basically said, 'Let's kick it over to the career lawyers, have them look at it.'"
Bernhardt added that, as a result, "what we decided is that the approach needed to be addressed."
House Natural Resources Committee Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) also sent a letter to Bernhardt yesterday asking him to testify before the committee, saying it is long past due.
"While a private meeting with the Secretary would have been welcome in January or February or March, it's time for him to appear before all Members of this Committee. Explaining how he oversees billions of dollars of taxpayer money, as well as his conduct in office, is part of his job and he needs to do it," Grijalva wrote.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2019/04/16/stories/1060169731
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US EPA Proposes Amendments to CDR Rule
Apr 16, 2019 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
The US EPA has proposed changes to its TSCA chemical data reporting (CDR) rule in an effort to reduce the burden it poses.
The proposed rule to update the reporting scheme – which generally requires manufacturers to report every four years on substances produced above 25,000lbs – also aims to better align the programme with the 2016 Lautenberg amendments to TSCA with respect to confidentiality claims and "better support agency data collection efforts".
The proposal floats a number of changes. Among these are: an update to the small business definition, which would expand the pool of companies eligible for certain reporting exemptions;new exemptions for certain types of byproducts; revising the substantiation questions to be answered when asserting a confidentiality claim and identifying data that cannot be claimed as confidential; harmonising substance use codes with those developed by the OECD.
EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Assistant Administrator Alexandra Dunn said the proposal represents "a continuing effort in every aspect of our programme to ensure that the public has information on chemicals in commerce, that EPA has the information necessary to conduct our chemical reviews, and that reporting burden is minimised and simplified."
Small businesses
The proposed rule seeks to adjust for inflation the existing definition of a small manufacturer. This comes following a determination that a revision was warranted, with the definition having not been updated for more than 30 years.
If adopted, the small business definition would extend to a manufacturer that has sales, combined with those of its parent company:under $110m (adjusted from the existing $40m), unless that company has a site that produced more than 100,000lbs of a particular substance; orunder $11m (versus the current $4m), irrespective of production volumes.
The EPA estimates its proposed change would eliminate reporting obligations entirely for more than 90 industry sites and reduce reporting for another 129.
Byproducts
The proposal also addresses byproducts, after an effort to exempt from reporting certain inorganic byproducts through a negotiated rulemaking process failed in 2017.
Among the proposed changes is a new allowance, with some exceptions, for reporting together certain inorganic byproducts under metal compound categories (eg ‘cadmium and cadmium compounds’). The agency thinks this would ease reporting burdens for manufacturers of byproducts that are non-specific and difficult to identify, and better align with Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reporting.
The agency has also proposed exempting byproducts generated by certain non-integral processes, such as those manufactured due to the use of pollution control equipment.
And it is considering exempting byproducts that are recycled on-site from two industries. These are: Portland cement manufacturers that produce cement kiln dust; and manufacturers using the Kraft pulping process to produce black liquor and calcium carbonate.
The proposal outlines a petition process where the public could request modifications to this exemptions list. Among the agency’s considerations in evaluating such requests would be whether the byproduct is recycled or otherwise used to manufacture another substance within an enclosed system, within the same overall manufacturing process, and on the same site.
Additional amendments
Beyond these changes, the EPA is also proposing to: simplify the reporting process for co-manufacturers (‘toll manufacturers’); add a requirement that manufacturers report the percent total production volume for a substance that is a byproduct; and make general updates to the regulatory text, such as clarifying changes and removing outdated material.
It also noted that it is taking other, non-regulatory steps to minimise the reporting burden. This includes "improving the reporting application and database to be user-friendly and dynamic".
The agency says it plans to allow industry to test and comment on the updated e-CDRweb portal prior to the 2020 CDR submission period.
Comments on the proposal will be accepted for 60 days from its formal publication in the Federal Register.
CDR rule overview
The CDR rule, which comes under Section 8 of TSCA, requires reporting once every four years for substances with production volumes above 25,000lbs at any single site during any calendar year since the last reporting period.
A lower reporting threshold (2,500lbs) applies to substances that are the subject of certain TSCA actions, such as significant new use rules (Snurs). Generally excluded from the reporting exercise are polymers, naturally occurring substances and microorganisms.
Data that must be submitted includes production volumes, exposure-related information, processing and use information and details about the company.
The agency uses the information to inform its understanding of chemicals in commerce in the US and to support its prioritisation and risk evaluation decisions under TSCA.
In the most recent 2016 CDR exercise, the EPA received submissions from 5,660 sites with respect to more than 8,700 individual chemicals.
Reporting for the 2020 CDR is slated to begin 1 June next year, covering production in 2016-19.
https://chemicalwatch.com/76517/us-epa-proposes-amendments-to-cdr-rule
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EPA Seeks More Data, More Comment on Pigment Chemical Risks
Apr 16, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Pat Rizzuto
The EPA will give interested parties a second chance to comment on the agency’s conclusions that Pigment Violet 29 doesn’t pose an unreasonable risk.
The chemical is used to color coatings and make other dyes in a wide range of consumer and industrial products, such as automotive paints and paper.
The Environmental Protection Agency reopened the comment period through May 17, because it released previously restricted information about Pigment Violet 29’s potential health effects.
In addition, the agency will release on April 17 additional details explaining how it reached its conclusion that the pigment poses no unreasonable risks, the EPA said.
Some members of Congress and labor, health, and environmental groups blasted the EPA’s initial decision to let companies shield the health and safety data as confidential business information that the agency couldn’t make public.
The agency’s decision to make the previously confidential information public also follows the Senate’s confirmation of Alexandra Dapolito Dunn to head the agency’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.
Dunn has repeatedly said the agency needs to make public the scientific information that underlies its decisions about chemicals and pesticides.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/more-data-more-comment-time-epa-says-for-pigment-violet-29
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US FDA Bans 28 Substances from Hand Sanitisers
Apr 16, 2019 | Chemical Watch
By Vanessa Zainzinger
The US FDA has issued a final rule barring 28 active ingredients from use in over-the-counter consumer antiseptic rubs, such as hand sanitisers.
In future, such products containing any of the substances (see box below) will have to be approved under a new drug application (NDA) or abbreviated new drug application (ANDA), before being marketed.
This confirms a proposed rule issued in 2016, in which the agency provisionally classified the chemicals as not generally recognised as safe and effective (Gras/GRAE) for use.
Since then, it has not received any new information on them, the FDA said.Pending decisions
The final rule defers rulemaking on three other ingredients: benzalkonium chloride; ethyl alcohol; and isopropyl alcohol.
This is to allow companies and other stakeholders more time to complete studies that will fill some safety and effectiveness data gaps, the FDA said.
Its 2016 proposed rule already asked stakeholders to submit additional data on these chemicals. But the FDA said it received requests to allow more time. Some comments on the proposed rule warned the required studies "could take several years" to design, execute and analyse.
The final rule provisionally defers rulemaking for one year but leaves open the possibility of renewal. The FDA said this will allow it to "monitor the continued progress" of the studies being conducted.
Mixed reactions
The American Cleaning Institute (ACI) said it "looks forward to providing additional data to ensure the FDA has complete and up-to-date information on ethanol and benzalkonium chloride used in these beneficial products."
The trade body added that hand sanitisers are a "critical part" of hygiene routines and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends using alcohol-based hand sanitisers if soap and water are unavailable.
Since 2009, 90% of all consumer antiseptic rubs use ethanol or ethyl alcohol as their active ingredient, according to the FDA.
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), however, had hoped for more immediate action on the three chemicals. The NGO had won a judicial consent decree against the FDA, binding the agency to publish its final rule on antiseptic rubs by 15 April.
Mae Wu, a senior NRDC attorney who brought the case, said that the FDA is neglecting its responsibility to eliminate chemicals from consumer products, by deferring action on chemicals "known to harm human health, specifically benzalkonium chloride".
The final rule is part of the FDA's larger, ongoing review of over-the-counter antiseptic active ingredients. It has previously barred lists of ingredients from use in consumer antiseptic washes and health-care antiseptics.
List of chemicals
The FDA has barred 28 ingredients from use on over-the-counter antiseptic rubs, without approval under a new drug application. They are: benzethonium chloride; chloroxylenol; chlorhexidine gluconate; cloflucarban; fluorosalan; hexachlorophene; hexylresorcinol; iodine complex (ammonium ether sulfate and polyoxyethylene sorbitan monolaurate); iodine complex (phosphate ester of alkylaryloxy polyethylene glycol); methylbenzethonium chloride; nonylphenoxypoly (ethyleneoxy) ethanoliodine; phenol (equal to or less than 1.5 percent or greater than 1.5 percent); poloxamer iodine complex; povidone-iodine 5 to 10 percent; secondary amyltricresols; sodium oxychlorosene; tribromsalan; triclocarban; triclosan; triple dye; undecoylium chloride iodine complex; polyhexamethylene biguanide; benzalkonium cetyl phosphate; cetylpyridinium chloride; salicylic acid; sodium hypochlorite; tea tree oil; and combination of potassium vegetable oil solution, phosphate sequestering agent, and triethanolamine.
https://chemicalwatch.com/76526/us-fda-bans-28-substances-from-hand-sanitisers
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Walmart Sets 2025 Chemicals Target for Textiles Suppliers
Apr 16, 2019 | Chemical Watch
By Leigh Stringer
Retail giant Walmart has set a goal to reduce the discharge of priority chemicals from the manufacturing processes of its textile and apparel suppliers by 2025.
Walmart's priority chemicals are identified from regulatory lists, including those under: EU REACH; US state lists of chemicals of concern, such as those established in Maine, California and Washington; the US EPA's Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) of persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) chemicals; and substances listed under global treaty, the Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants.
To achieve this, it is urging its textile and apparel suppliers to use third-party certification and industry tools to reduce the use of these chemicals. Suppliers of apparel, footwear and soft home textiles are being asked to "lead in manufacturing their products with sustainable chemistry".
The company specifically urges the use of third-party certification that "accesses and recognises leadership", such as Oeko-Tex Standard 100.
This certification scheme includes criteria on legal requirements for banned Azo colourants, formaldehyde, pentachlorophenol, cadmium, nickel, as well as the US Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) regarding lead and those under REACH.
Walmart is also working with suppliers to its US stores to increase use of trade group, the Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s Higg Index Facility Environmental Module (FEM).
The Higg Index is a suite of tools that allows brands, retailers and manufacturing facilities to measure and score the sustainability performance of a company or product. It includes modules on chemicals management and the use of hazardous substances.
Chemistry, says Walmart, is essential to the production of manufactured products, including the apparel, footwear and soft home textiles that its customers purchase every day.
In 2017, Walmart set a 10% reduction goal for chemicals it defines as ‘of concern’ in the products it sells by 2022 and also became the first retailer to participate in the Chemical Footprint Project (CFP).
https://chemicalwatch.com/76537/walmart-sets-2025-chemicals-target-for-textiles-suppliers
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Apr 16, 2019 | Denver Post
By Kirk Mitchell
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has sued the U.S. Army claiming that dangerous chemicals including pesticides continue to leach into groundwater at Rocky Mountain Arsenal.
The Colorado department’s Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division filed the lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court in Denver to force the Army to comply with standards set by the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA).
CDPHE is asking the federal court to compel the Army to install or modify the existing treatment system to effectively prevent pollutants from contaminating groundwater, the lawsuit says.
Organochlorine pesticides, heavy metals, agent degradation products and manufacturing by-products, and chlorinated and aromatic solvents are getting into groundwater in unsafe levels, it says.
“All of these constituents constitute threats to human health and the environment,” the lawsuit says.
Beginning in 1942, the Army used the 27-square-mile arsenal at 5650 Gateway Road in Commerce City for the manufacture and disposal of chemical warfare agents, and chemical and incendiary munitions. Between 1946 and 1987, the Army also leased portions of the arsenal to Shell Oil Company to manufacture pesticides.
The Army and Shell operated Basin F, a hazardous waste surface impoundment for the storage and treatment of liquid and solid hazardous wastes, but the facility leaked wastes into the environment after waste disposal ended in 1981, the lawsuit says. Recent tests have confirmed that the contamination continues “to this day,” it says.
The CDPHE issued the Army a notice of non-compliance, claiming its containment and treatment measures were not working. It cited seven violations.
The Army replied by indicating federal authorities should regulate the arsenal superfund site through the CERCLA, and not state environmental authorities.
But CERCLA empowers Colorado to enforce federal standards, the lawsuit claims.
Colorado health officials contend that Shell’s trenches and slurry walls have not prevented pesticides and other dangerous chemicals from leaching into the groundwater.
Beginning in October 2012, testing has revealed that pollutants have escaped the Shell trenches and groundwater is likely coming into contact with the waste and migrating out of the trenches, the lawsuit says. Further testing revealed that the containment issue is an ongoing problem, the lawsuit says.
State health officials are asking the federal courts to intervene to stop the contamination on the north and northwest boundaries of the trenches. The defendants must build a system to “actively dewater” Shell’s trenches to prevent the mixing of effluent with groundwater, the lawsuit says.
https://www.denverpost.com/2019/04/16/rocky-mountain-arsenal-chemicals-groundwater-lawsuit/
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Another Battlefront Opens for NatGas as Nuclear Subsidies Bill Lands in Ohio
Apr 16, 2019 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Jamison Cocklin
Yet another bill to support struggling nuclear power plants with state subsidies has been introduced, this time in Ohio, where...
Subscription required for full article.
https://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/118045-another-battlefront-opens-for-natgas-as-nuclear-subsidies-bill-lands-in-ohio
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Domestic Crude Exports Nearly Doubled in 2018, Says EIA
Apr 16, 2019 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Jeremiah Shelor
U.S. crude oil exports nearly doubled in 2018, rising to 2.0 million b/d versus 1.2 million b/d in 2017 as domestic volumes reached 42 destinations across the globe, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Subscription required for full article.
https://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/118052-domestic-crude-exports-nearly-doubled-in-2018-says-eia
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US Oil Output Could See Change of Pace as Producers Rein in Spending
Apr 16, 2019 | S&P Global Platts
By Starr Spencer
Upstream oil and gas producers in the US are trapped in a dilemma they might have previously thought would be desirable: abundant production at low cost.
For decades, higher production from oil companies was what the market wanted and rewarded. If producers had to borrow and overspend to do it, the attitude was “c’est la vie”. But in the last couple of years, it has become clear that what is desired, often voiced and certainly rewarded, is slower production growth and reined-in spending.
Capital discipline has been the watchword among upstream producers and Wall Street alike for at least 18 months. That could help brake production growth this year, along with small decreases in well productivity and efforts to return more capital to shareholders.
Increases in US unconventional production from shale, particularly shale oil, are the product of years of innovation. In particular, during the industry downturn between 2015-2017, E&P companies hacked away at their costs and forced down their breakeven prices. The industry has more than doubled production since 2011, and the fastest growth has been in the last couple of years.
According to US Energy Information Administration data, domestic oil production breached the 12 million b/d mark in March, and nearly 2 million b/d of that was added last year alone. S&P Global Platts Analytics forecasts year-end production at 12.78 million b/d and end-2020 production at 13.48 million b/d.
Long-time energy economist Phil Verleger, in a report in January cited EIA projections of 800,000 b/d additional production from December 2018 to December 2019, adding that the International Energy Agency figures on 780,000 b/d of added production in the same time span and OPEC, 1.7 million b/d.
“The level of activity last year will be difficult to maintain without oversupplying the market,” Credit Suisse analyst Jim Wicklund observed in a recent investor note.
But operators can’t help it: the efficiencies achieved in recent years have made it easier to produce more oil from every well. They’re not going away anytime soon, so something else will have to slow down their progress.
When crude prices dropped from over $100/b in mid-2014 to about half that level at the end of the year, operators learned the meaning of efficiency the hard way. Suddenly each barrel they produced was bringing in 50% of the money it had done just months earlier, so they had to make each drilling and production dollar they spent work harder.
From necessity to invention
Through diligent operational streamlining, they squeezed every last drop of value out of each stage of the E&P chain.
They eventually brought their breakeven price – the cost of producing a barrel of oil to get a 10% return – down to levels that would have seemed miraculously low a few years before. These days, oil breakevens for the best operators in the most prolific plays are not too much more than the cost of an extra-large pizza with the works, plus a magnum of Coca-Cola and tip for delivery.
The continuous technological wizardry of well drilling and completion improvements allowed the industry to produce far more oil and gas in far less time at ever-lower costs – and at extremely economic return rates which often yielded 100% or more. But it also brought the supply genie ahead of the demand curve faster than expected.
Producers exploiting US plays from Texas to North Dakota, from Pennsylvania to Wyoming, have pulled gargantuan volumes of shale oil and gas out of the earth in the last 15 years. Gas was the initial commodity to be produced unconventionally – meaning horizontally – starting in the early 2000s. So successful were producers at coaxing large gas volumes out of shale wells that eventually the domestic market was facing a glut that pushed gas prices to low levels within a few years. Prices have continued to stagnate.
Pre-shale, a decent initial flow rate for a conventional gas well was about 1,000 Mcf/d. Now many shale wells yield initial rates of 20,000 Mcf/d and double that rate is not unheard of. Those numbers have kept gas storage bins full and gas exports to markets around the world humming.
Increases in crude well outputs are also robust even if not as dramatic. Conventional oil wells of the past might have yielded 500 b/d, while early shale oil wells saw typical initial outputs of 1,000 b/d. That has frequently doubled and sometimes tripled, while in rare cases 5,000 b/d or 6,000 b/d have been eked out of wells. Even so, total oil production growth over the last eight years as the shale oil revolution blossomed has been phenomenal. In January 2011, US oil production was just below 5.5 million b/d. By January 2015, just as the recent industry downturn had begun, domestic oil production stood at 9.3 million b/d. That increase was largely achieved at prices of $90/b-$100/b.
Production peaked in April of that year at 9.6 million b/d, but fell back because operators cut back activity and capex during the downturn. The 50 largest E&P companies slashed their 2015 capital budgets collectively more than 40% year on year, and another 25% or so for 2016, according to research from EY (formerly Ernst & Young). By that time, oil prices had fallen to levels around $30/b just as operators were releasing their annual budgets at the start of that year.
But then, oil prices stabilized around $50/b for several months, and heading into 2017, E&P operators were more sanguine. The constancy of prices lent confidence to the sector and the operational improvements forced by low crude prices had put them in good stead to produce oil for less than before. Capital budgets rose that year about 32% to a total $114.5 billion – still far below the $198 billion spent in 2014. But spending didn’t need to return to former levels, as E&P operators found they could still grow production at $50/b.
Even at capex levels 65% to 70% lower, during the downturn, US production from January 2015 to January 2017 dropped only about 6%, to 8.8 million b/d. And given the efficiency improvements achieved during that time, it didn’t take long for US production to climb back up.
From November 2016 to November 2017, at an average price of $50/b, US oil production grew by 1.2 million to 10 million b/d. And from November 2017 to November 2018, at an average price of $64.83/b, production grew just under 1.8 million b/d, hitting 11.9 million b/d.
In the low oil-price environment of 2015-17, operators drastically reduced the number of days needed to drill wells. They became more precise in placing drill bits within an oil formation to land in a reservoir’s sweetest spot. And they continually streamlined and perfected their recipes for completing wells at increasingly lower costs.
Click to enlarge
Continually evolving well completion designs have allowed operators to bring down the cost of a well by about a third or more. At the start of 2014, the Permian Midland –the eastern and part of that giant West Texas basin– had an average oil breakeven cost of about $44/b; currently it is around $30/b, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics data.
Prices point to slowing growth
What to do about the US supply glut, then? It is likely that a combination of technical production limits, investor demands and the simple factor of oil price will start to redress the imbalance this year. Lower crude prices should put a brake on production growth this year by some order of magnitude. E&P company capital budgets for 2019 are coming in flat or lower on average, and some operators that late last year guided this year’s spending at higher levels, have revised them down.
Also, operators are being encouraged by market forces to spend money in other ways than growing production. E&P companies that return more cash to shareholders are being rewarded, since in some cases dividends were reduced or eliminated during the downturn. Companies that are more disciplined and keep spending at the level of cash flows – which was uncommon in years past when operators typically outspent their income – have also been rewarded with higher share price. Access to credit is also a likely consideration in times of volatile oil prices, as a more restrained approach to spending may help when companies are looking to the capital markets for funding.
In any case, premium acreage – the so-called “Tier 1” areas – is starting to decline for many companies, although some claim that continued efficiencies and cost control can turn many drilling locales to premium status that were not originally deemed that way.
Well productivity also appears to be reaching a plateau, many operators say. In a recent report on basin trends in Q4, Evercore ISI analyst Stephen Richardson said more corporate level efficiencies are expected in 2019, although finding the optimum spacing between wells remains an ongoing challenge.
Richardson’s examination “reveals the pace of incremental [well] performance gains have tapered across basins,” he said, adding: “The market needs producers to exhibit restraint in 2019 plans.”
https://blogs.platts.com/2019/04/16/us-oil-change-pace-2019/
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Not All Biogas Is Created Equal
Apr 15, 2019 | Environmental Defense Fund
By Joe Rudek and Stefan Schwietzke
In this climate-conscious economy, where many consumers demand cleaner energy options, gas companies are exploring more opportunities to reduce their carbon footprint.
One option gaining traction is biogas – a form of natural gas that comes from decaying biological sources (like decomposing food and manure), rather than fossil fuels. In fact, gas utilities from Vermont to California have introduced programs to allow their customers to purchase biogas through the existing gas system.
Some utilities suggest that biogas cuts carbon emissions across the energy sector. However, the reality is that biogas must be developed with safeguards that protect the climate and local environmental conditions, and is only one tool among many needed to address the climate crisis.
The biogas basics
Biogas is typically about two-thirds methane (CH4) and one-third carbon dioxide (CO2). Both are climate pollutants, and while CH4 doesn’t last in the atmosphere as long as CO2 (about 10 years compared with hundreds of years) it’s far more potent – responsible for about 25% of current global warming.
Biogas can be processed to about 95% CH4 – what is often called biogenic CH4 or renewable natural gas (RNG). When biogenic CH4 is combusted (on a stove top burner, for instance) it still creates CO2 emissions, but since the biogas is derived from plants (which naturally remove CO2 from the atmosphere), the CO2 emissions are generally considered climate-neutral as relatively little fossil carbon is added to the atmosphere. So, there are climate benefits to capturing and using biogenic CH4 gas currently emitted from landfills, lagoons, animal-feeding operations and other existing sources. Even if this CH4 capture is imperfect, it’s beneficial because there is a net reduction in CH4 emissions. In addition, when used as a fuel, it can provide climate benefits by reducing use of fossil energy sources.
But not all biogas is carbon neutral.
The right (and wrong) way to develop biogas
The benefits of capturing and using biogenic CH4 strongly depend on where the biogas comes from and the infrastructure used to process and deliver it. For example, while some leakage in the capture of current CH4 emissions sources still reduces net pollution, if new biogenic CH4 were generated from sources not currently producing it (for example wood product wastes or purpose grown crops), subsequent leakage of that new biogenic CH4 would increase atmospheric CH4 concentrations. Given the potency of CH4, any net increase in emissions would be counterproductive. Biogas production also only generates climate benefits if it replaces fossil gas instead of adding to global production.
A 2018 peer-reviewed paper by Alvarez et al (2018) estimates that a loss rate of about 3% negates the climate benefits of replacing fossil natural gas with biogenic CH4 generated from new sources for at least a couple of decades. This underlines the importance of minimizing CH4 leakage, which is equally relevant for biogas.
Therefore, according to Alvarez et al., even the climate benefits of capturing and using existing emission sources could be overcome if higher net CH4 emissions results. One example of this would be a landfill CH4 capture system that currently flares captured biogas where subsequent diversion of the biogas for processing, pipeline distribution and use results in higher CH4 emissions relative to flaring.
A framework for biogas oversight
A 2018 paper from the World Resources Institute (WRI) proposes two key conditions to consider to ensure biogas is climate positive.First, biogas must be produced from waste, and not other sources of organic material. Use of waste avoids competition with food production, timber, other human needs and ecosystem carbon storage.Secondly, biogas must reduce net CH4 emissions to the atmosphere. As referenced earlier, net increases in emissions can occur when biogas comes from new CH4 sources (methane that would not otherwise have entered the atmosphere), or existing biogas sources whose capture systems result in higher net CH4 emissions.
Since it’s clear that biogas must be sourced responsibly to be a true climate win and avoid creating more problems than it solves, state and local agencies must be careful not to overestimate the volume of biogas available to replace fossil fuels.
A final element to consider is the management of the remaining waste products from the anaerobic digestion of animal manure. The nutrient-rich solids and effluent remaining in the digester are typically applied to nearby crops, but appropriate care must be taken to avoid impacts to water, air, and nearby communities.
Where all of these conditions are met, biogas could present a major opportunity for farms and other existing agricultural sources to reduce waste by cutting flaring and useable CH4 losses.
A clear direction forward on biogas
Replacing fossil fuels with biogenic CH4 only works for the climate if biogas is responsibly sourced and emissions are very well controlled. Otherwise, conditions could cause perverse climate impacts that undercut or even totally eliminate the value of biogas. Decision-makers, such as Public Utilities Commissions and legislatures, should closely evaluate new biogas proposals to determine if they really can deliver climate benefits.
http://blogs.edf.org/energyexchange/2019/04/15/not-all-biogas-is-created-equal/
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Book Detailing Impacts of 'Corporate Fracking' Wins Pulitzer
Apr 16, 2019 | E&E - Greenwire
By Scott Streater
A book that chronicles the health and financial impacts of hydraulic fracturing on a family and the southwest Pennsylvania region yesterday won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction.
Eliza Griswold's "Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America" was described by the Pulitzer judges as a "classic American story" about an "Appalachian family struggling to retain its middle class status in the shadow of destruction wreaked by corporate fracking."
"Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America" won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction. The Pulitzer Prizes
The book centers on the efforts of Stacey Haney, a local nurse, to find answers when her two children become sick and the family pets start to die after a Texas-based energy company begins drilling for natural gas on her family farm in Washington County, Pa. Haney and her neighbors eventually filed a lawsuit that was settled out of court.
Griswold told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette yesterday that the response to her book "has been heartening across the political spectrum. It isn't just that activists have been excited about it. People who have been on the fence about fracking are grateful to have a careful account that is not politics."
But the debate over fracking, and its potential impacts to human health and the environment, continues to rage on.
The Independent Petroleum Association of America's Energy in Depth website posted an article last August blasting the book's "claims of water contamination that have long-since been resolved by multiple regulatory agencies, courtrooms, and expert analyses."
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D), however, announced earlier this year that his office is conducting criminal investigations of oil and gas industry actions in Washington County (Energywire, Jan. 29).
This year's winners of journalism's most prestigious awards were announced yesterday at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism in New York.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2019/04/16/stories/1060169605
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Shipping LNG by Rail Proposed by Trump
Apr 16, 2019 | Kallanish Energy
President Trump has proposed moving natural gas via railcars, a move that would serve new markets, but that critics say could risk horrible accidents, Kallanish Energy reports.
Trump last week ordered the Department of Transportation to write a new rule permitting liquefied natural gas to be shipped in tank cars.
The order follows a lobbying campaign by railroads and natural gas proponents, who argue it’s needed to serve customers in the U.S. Northeast, where there aren’t enough pipelines.
“There are all sorts of new opportunities where you can use rail much more efficiently,” Charlie Riedl, head of the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas trade group, told Bloomberg.
Moving LNG by rail mirrors how the oil industry turned to trains to ship crude when there weren’t enough pipelines to meet demand.
But a number of accidents — including a runaway oil train that derailed and killed more than 40 people in the small Quebec town of Lac-Mégantic in 2013 — have safety advocates warning against putting LNG on rails.
“It’s a disaster waiting to happen,” Emily Jeffers, a staff attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, told Bloomberg. “You’re transporting an extraordinarily flammable and dangerous substance through highly populated areas with basically no environmental protection.”
LNG does not burn on its own, and it can’t ignite in its liquefied state. The risk comes if a tank car were ruptured and it were exposed to the air, triggering it to rapidly convert back into a flammable gas and evaporate.
However, supporters of rail transport state natural gas dissipates rapidly and has such a narrow ignition window it is only able to ignite when mixed with air at a ratio of about 5% to 15%, unlike other flammable materials carried by rail. LNG won’t dissolve in water and, if spilled, generally evaporates, leaving no residue behind.
The Association of American Railroads said LNG is “similar in all relevant properties to other hazardous materials that are currently authorized to be transported by rail.”
https://www.kallanishenergy.com/2019/04/16/shipping-lng-by-rail-proposed-by-trump/
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Feed Gas Introduced into Train 1 at Cameron LNG
Apr 16, 2019 | Oil & Gas Journal
Train 1 of the Cameron LNG project in Hackberry, La., has reached the final commissioning stage, marking the transition from construction to startup, said McDermott International Inc. Since the initial award in 2014, McDermott and Chiyoda International Corp., a US subsidiary of Japan’s Chiyoda Corp., have provided the engineering, procurement, and construction for the project.
Pipeline feed gas was introduced into Train 1 of the liquefaction export facility, the precursor for LNG production.
Once fully operational, Train 1 will have the capacity to produce 4 million tonnes/year of LNG, said Mark Coscio, McDermott’s senior vice-president for North, Central, and South America. The project includes three liquefaction trains with a projected export of 12 million tpy of LNG (1.7 bcfd). An expansion, if undertaken, would include two additional liquefaction trains and as many as two additional full containment LNG storage tanks. The expansion is capable of increasing LNG production capacity by 9.97 million tpy of LNG (1.41 bcfd). If constructed, Cameron LNG’s export capacity will be 24.92 million tpy (3.53 bcfd).
Cameron LNG is jointly owned by affiliates of Sempra LNG LLC, Total SA, Mitsui & Co. Ltd., and Japan LNG Investment LLC, a company jointly owned by Mitsubishi Corp. and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha.
https://www.ogj.com/articles/2019/04/feed-gas-introduced-into-train-1-at-cameron-lng.html
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The Energy 202: EPA Tried Speeding up Its Science Reviews. Now the Reviewers Say It Won't Work.
Apr 16, 2019 | Washington Post
By Dino Grandoni
The Environmental Protection Agency's decision last year to disband an air pollution science panel may be coming back to bite the administration.
Last October, the Trump administration dissolved the panel of outside experts advising the agency on ways to limit the amount of harmful soot pumped into the air, in the hopes of speeding up the often-sluggish pace of environmental rulemaking.
But now, the independent scientists it charged to do the work instead are saying they want the original panel back. And the deliberations about pollution rules are dragging on even longer.
In an April 11 letter to agency chief Andrew Wheeler, the EPA's seven-member Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) acknowledged it does not have sufficient expertise to do the work once done by a 20-member panel. That work involves reviewing the latest science on pollution known as particulate matter — microscopic particles known to lodge themselves in the lungs and contribute to an array of respiratory or cardiovascular problems.
The EPA should “reappoint” the disbanded Particulate Matter Review Panel or “appoint a panel with similar expertise” on particulate pollution that comes from cars, coal-fired power plants and other sources, CASAC wrote to Wheeler. “The breadth and diversity of evidence to be considered exceeds the expertise of the statutory CASAC members, or indeed of any seven individuals,” the seven panelists concluded.
Louis Anthony Cox, Jr., chair of the CASAC, explained by email that his committee wants “the world's best expertise on specialized technical details and scientific methods to ensure that we continue to provide the best possible scientific advice to the EPA.”
The EPA is weighing whether it should reverse its decision. “The agency thanks the CASAC for their review and advice and will carefully consider the comments and recommendations in the CASAC report,” the EPA said in a statement.
The message from CASAC represents the latest instance of the Trump administration getting tripped up in its efforts to create a set of business-friendly environmental regulations. Numerous times, federal judges have ruled the EPA had short-circuited the regulatory process in delaying or reversing Obama-era decisions on issues that include chemical plant safety operations and the protection of waterways from dredging.
Gretchen Goldman, research director of the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Center for Science and Democracy, said the EPA was hoping to get both quality and speed by reassigning the review of soot pollution to the smaller panel.
“Now they're getting neither,” she said.
A one-time member of the disbanded particulate-matter panel, Chris Frey, said the letter amounted to “a stunning slap in the face” to EPA's leadership. He suggested Wheeler simply reinstate the panel with the members who had served on it last year, since the EPA wants the work done quickly and he and the others have already been vetted.
“He made a mistake, and I think the best thing he can do to correct the mistake is reinstate the panel,” Frey said.
The disbanding in October of two specialized pollution panels — one on particulate matter and another on a noxious form of oxygen called ozone — whittled down the number of independent air-pollution researchers reviewing the latest air-pollution research, and was viewed by Goldman and some other observers as an effort to sideline science that stands in the way of President Trump's pro-industry agenda.
“It looks like another step to eliminate outside independent expert opinion,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told Wheeler this month at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing.
But Wheeler said that getting rid of the panels would allow the EPA to finally meet deadlines under the Clean Air Act for revising pollution limits after years of missing them.
“We took a hard look at what was causing the delay,” Wheeler said in response to Van Hollen.
Wheeler had asked CASAC to review a draft scientific assessment put together by career EPA scientists on the latest research on the health effects of particulate matter.
Despite concluding it lacked the expertise to fully review the draft, the committee — made up of Wheeler appointees that included environmental officials from Alabama, Georgia, Texas and Utah — still found the career staff did not “provide a sufficiently comprehensive, systematic assessment” of potential links between breathing particulate matter and the risk of certain health problems, such as pulmonary inflammation and cancer.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-energy-202/2019/04/16/the-energy-202-epa-tried-speeding-up-its-science-reviews-now-the-reviewers-say-it-won-t-work/5cb4c813a7a0a475985bd452/?utm_term=.1b252a0cad8d
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Ewire: Warren Pledges to Restore Obama-Era Environmental Policies
Apr 16, 2019 | Inside EPA
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is pledging to reimpose the Obama-era Clean Water Act (CWA) rule and impose a “total moratorium” on new fossil fuel leasing on federal lands if she is elected president in 2020, part a series of steps she is proposing that would reinstate Obama-era environmental measures
“The Trump administration is busy selling off our public lands to the oil, gas and coal industries for pennies on the dollar -- expanding fossil fuel extraction that destroys pristine sites across the country while pouring an accelerant on our climate crisis,” Warren writes in an April 15 blog post on Medium announcing the new policy.
In addition to pausing new oil, gas and coal leasing, Warren also hopes to boost onshore and offshore renewable energy on public lands, pledging to set a goal of providing 10 percent of the country's overall generation from renewables on public lands.
“It's not enough to end our public lands' contribution to climate change. We have an enormous opportunity to make them a part of the climate solution, and for both economic and environmental reasons, we should take it,” she writes.
Warren's focus on climate and lands issues is another signal that the topic could have a larger importance in the 2020 election, as nearly 20 Democratic presidential hopefuls try for the chance to take on President Donald Trump in the general election.
The Massachusetts senator has long been associated more with consumer protection and financial regulation issues, so her recent environmental policies could also be an effort to establish her bona fides in that area.
As CNBC notes, Warren's moratorium pledge would go beyond the Obama administration's decision to pause new coal leasing while the Interior Department (DOI) reviewed the climate effects of the program. Trump officials have reversed both the moratorium and the climate review.
Obama officials declined to pause new onshore and offshore oil and gas leases, though some environmentalists had urged the administration to take such a step.
Warren is also pledging to reinstate DOI's methane standards for oil and gas drilling on federal lands -- a rule that the Trump administration has largely rolled back but which was based on EPA's methane rules for new drilling equipment across the country.
She also promised to reinstate the Obama EPA's 2015 Clean Water Act jurisdiction rule. There is currently a “patchwork” of regulation, with the Obama-era rule applying in 22 states while it has been blocked by various court orders in the remainder of the country.
The public comment period just closed on the Trump EPA's proposal to create a far narrower CWA jurisdiction standard -- a plan that many state officials say would leave them with uncertain and potentially costly burdens to regulate waterbodies that the rule would leave to state discretion.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/ewire-warren-pledges-restore-obama-era-environmental-policies
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