Preview Newsletter
PM ACC Clips Report - April 22, 2019
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(ACC Mentioned) Trump Warned Against Keeping Tariffs on Chinese Goods
Apr 22, 2019 | Financial Times
By James Politi
Top US business groups have warned President Donald Trump against keeping tariffs on Chinese goods if he reaches a trade deal with Beijing, as corporate America grows increasingly anxious that trade tensions will linger even after a... -
(ACC Mentioned) Schneider Celebrating 50 Years in Bulk Shipping Sector
Apr 22, 2019 | Bulk Transporter
Schneider’s bulk division this year is celebrating 50 years of shipping specialty chemicals and liquid freight. The company broke in the bulk sector with the acquisition of Kampo Transit in 1969. Renamed Schneider Tank Lines, the company... -
(ACC Mentioned) The End of “Business as Usual”
Apr 22, 2019 | Wealth 365
By Paul Hodges
In my interview for Real Vision earlier this month, (where the world’s most successful investors share their thoughts on the markets and the biggest investment themes), I look at what data from the global chemical industry is telling us... -
(ACC Mentioned) ACC Pushes Chemical Recycling Legislation
Apr 22, 2019 | Plastics News
By Steven Toloken
The plastics industry is making a push in states for new laws to make it easier to build next-generation recycling plants that turn waste plastics into feedstocks and fuels, and it recently has secured victories in Iowa and Tennessee. -
(ACC Mentioned) Bill Aimed at Banning Chemicals in Personal Care Products Stalls in California Legislature
Apr 22, 2019 | Northern California Record
By Josh Breslin
California legislators have parked a bill that would have banned the use of a range of chemicals in personal health care products. Members of the Assembly's Environment, Safety and Toxic Materials Committee failed to vote on the... -
District Judge Allows Flint Residents to Sue EPA Over ‘Negligence’
Apr 22, 2019 | Inside EPA
A federal district judge is allowing residents of Flint, MI, to proceed with a broad suit seeking monetary damages over EPA’s alleged “negligent” handling of the city’s lead in drinking water crisis, rejecting the agency’s bid to dismiss the... -
'Finally!': Court Orders EPA to Stop Stalling Potential Ban on Pesticide Tied to Brain Damage in Kids
Apr 22, 2019 | EcoWatch
By Jessica Corbett
In a ruling welcomed by public health advocates, a federal court on Friday ordered the Trump administration to stop stalling a potential ban on a pesticide linked to brain damage in children, giving regulators until mid-July to make a final... -
Trump’s Liquefied Natural Gas Push Bolsters German Cruise Liners
Apr 22, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Brian Parkin, William Wilkes, and Vanessa Dezem
President Donald Trump’s bid to dump a glut of liquefied natural gas on Europe is getting an unlikely boost: stringent regulations on shipping emissions that are prompting the continent’s shipyards to hunt for alternatives to high-polluting... -
FERC Authorizes Driftwood, Port Arthur LNG Projects
Apr 22, 2019 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Charlie Passut
A divided FERC voted to authorize two liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects Thursday, as Commission staff reported that the United States is likely to continue as a net exporter of natural gas in 2019, with six fully operational... -
GAO Urges Interior to Improve Oil and Gas Oversight
Apr 22, 2019 | E&E - Greenwire
By Michael Doyle
The Interior Department lags on carrying out urgent recommendations made in 2012 for improving the oversight of offshore oil and gas activities, a federal watchdog warns in a new advisory. In a quick snapshot of high-priority issues... -
Oil Industry Fumes as USDA Chief Champions Ethanol
Apr 22, 2019 | E&E - Greenwire
By Marc Heller
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue may be a hero to corn farmers who like ethanol mandates, but the petroleum industry has a less glowing term for the former governor of Georgia: lobbyist. Perdue, who came to office with scant... -
Energy Transfer to Restart Mariner East 1 Liquids Pipeline
Apr 22, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rachel Adams-Heard
Energy Transfer’s Sunoco said it will restart its Mariner East 1 natural gas liquids pipeline, according to a press release from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. Mariner East 1 has been offline since Jan. 20, following a sinkhole... -
SCOTUS Will Hear $143 Million CITGO Oil Spill Case
Apr 22, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Steven M. Sellers
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed today to hear CITGO’s appeal over $143 million in oil spill cleanup costs caused when a submerged anchor pierced a tanker as it approached a New Jersey refinery. The April 22 decision to take up the... -
Justices to Weigh Who Pays for Oil Spill in River
Apr 22, 2019 | E&E - Greenwire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
The Supreme Court this morning agreed to take up a maritime law case stemming from an oil spill in the Delaware River 15 years ago. The outcome could affect liability for future oil spills and other maritime accidents. The outcome... -
(ACC Mentioned) Many Brands Offer Eco-Friendly Options To Meet Consumer Demand
Apr 22, 2019 | Digital Media Solutions
By Sarah Cavill
Happy Earth Day! Started as a “national teach-in on the environment” in 1970, Earth Day has since become a time to show respect for the planet, and recently a time to express concerns about climate change and other environmental... -
Trump Agencies Work on Climate Change—Quietly—on Public Lands
Apr 22, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Bobby Magill
Climate change programs in federal land management agencies are quietly carrying on, even amid Trump administration hostility to such action. The connection between public lands and solving climate change recently... -
Census Case Could Sway Environmental Litigation
Apr 22, 2019 | E&E - Greenwire
By Niina Heikkinen
A high-profile court battle over adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census could have significant implications for legal challenges to federal agencies' rollbacks of environmental rules. The Supreme Court is hearing oral... -
Challenge to EPA’s ‘Voluntarily Withdrawn’ FOIA Policy Survives
Apr 22, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Peter Hayes
The EPA failed to shake off a suit challenging its treatment of certain Freedom of Information Act requests as “voluntarily withdrawn.” The policy applies when the agency deems the requests to lack specifics and the requester... -
Capitalism Is the Best Force to Fight Climate Change
Apr 22, 2019 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Nick Lindquist
Amidst talks of a Green New Deal, the Paris Climate Accord, groups calling for government-led action, and more, there is a lot of public confusion surrounding environmental issues today. Though Democrats have always advocated for...
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(ACC Mentioned) Trump Warned Against Keeping Tariffs on Chinese Goods
Apr 22, 2019 | Financial Times
By James Politi
Top US business groups have warned President Donald Trump against keeping tariffs on Chinese goods if he reaches a trade deal with Beijing, as corporate America grows increasingly anxious that trade tensions will linger even after a pact is sealed.
In a letter to Mr Trump on Monday, lobby organisations including representatives of US retailers, oil producers, fisheries, and software companies called for the “full and immediate removal of all added tariffs” on Chinese goods in a deal, saying anything less would be a “loss for the American people”.
“American businesses and farmers . . . were promised that tariffs were merely a means to an end, and that all this damage would be worth it,” they wrote to Mr Trump. “A deal that fails to lift tariffs would represent a broken promise to these hardworking Americans.”
Negotiations between Washington and Beijing to end their year-long trade dispute have entered their final stretch, with US negotiators asking to maintain some of the $250bn in new tariffs on Chinese goods to force China to comply with any agreement. According to people briefed with the talks, the US has discussed lifting them only once China had met certain benchmarks.
In addition, the US wants the right to impose new punitive tariffs on China if it judges that China has failed to abide by the terms of the deal — in what officials are describing as an “enforcement” mechanism underlying the agreement. But this has triggered concerns among some US business groups who fear that it would mean the threat of a new escalation would remain even after a deal.
“The administration must avoid any enforcement mechanism that would trigger future tariffs and result in long-term economic uncertainty,” said the business groups, which are part of a coalition called Americans for Free Trade. They added: “We agree that enforcement must be part of a final deal. However, coming home from the bargaining table with a deal that results in perpetual tariffs would be a failure.”
The letter from the business groups highlights the mixed feelings in corporate America about the terms of a possible deal with China.
While many want an agreement simply because it would soothe markets, others are looking at specific provisions with greater concern. Some fear Chinese concessions on big structural issues, like industrial subsidies and the theft of intellectual property, could fall short of their hopes for a big change in Beijing’s policies. Others worry that Mr Trump will continue to dangle the threat of levies over China after the agreement, so little will be resolved on that front, either.
China hawks inside the administration — and on Capitol Hill — have been pushing Mr Trump and Robert Lighthizer, the US trade chief, to maintain a hardline stance on tariffs, which they see as an insurance policy against the risk of halfhearted implementation by Beijing.
Earlier this month, Mr Trump said he expected a deal to come together by May if it happened. Officials from both sides have been discussing the possibility of a “signing summit” between Mr Trump and Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, though the exact timing and location are unclear.
The coalition that sent the letter to Mr Trump on Monday included the National Retail Federation, the American Chemistry Council, the Consumer Technology Association, the Information Technology Industry Council, the National Fisheries Institute and the US-China Business Council.
https://www.ft.com/content/d7328f22-6512-11e9-9adc-98bf1d35a056
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(ACC Mentioned) Schneider Celebrating 50 Years in Bulk Shipping Sector
Apr 22, 2019 | Bulk Transporter
Schneider’s bulk division this year is celebrating 50 years of shipping specialty chemicals and liquid freight.
The company broke in the bulk sector with the acquisition of Kampo Transit in 1969. Renamed Schneider Tank Lines, the company got its start by hauling milk and fuel oil on routes throughout Wisconsin. The ensuing decades brought ventures into the energy and food sectors, among others. Today, Schneider has a presence in the chemical freight market, as well as a growing number of agrichemical customers.
“Achieving 50 years in bulk transportation is a significant accomplishment, and we’re very proud to be one of only a few carriers to hit that mark,” said Jason Howe, senior vice president and general manager of Schneider’s bulk division.
“Of course, we owe so much of our success and longevity to the customers who trust us to move their product and the incredible drivers who deliver it safely, time after time.”
Schneider says it’s also the only carrier in the industry offering long-haul, local, regional, cross-border, dedicated and intermodal bulk services. Schneider’s Intermodal capability helps free up drivers and allows greater capacity throughout the supply chain.
Schneider’s commitment to safety is a hallmark, the company said. It implemented a variety of safety technology measures in its fleet, including electronic stability systems and collision mitigation technology. Bulk transport of chemicals is especially stringent in safety requirements, and Schneider consistently meets and exceeds all with thorough driver training.
“Schneider’s culture of ‘Safety First and Always’ plays a significant role in its enduring success,” said Lori Pavlish of the Dow Chemical Transportation safety and security team. “Schneider Bulk displays a relentless commitment to safe transportation, and we look forward to continuing to work together to drive safety home.”
Schneider bulk has made “significant” investments in equipment and technologies over the years, the company said. Early equipment such as aluminum trailers and vacuum trucks gave way to more cutting-edge technologies. Schneider currently operates stainless-steel trailers with both rear and belly unloads, rubber lining and varying compartment numbers, as well as intermodal bulk containers.
Efficiency is maximized with the Schneider Planning Accelerator, which optimizes orders on the basis of timing, equipment and safety measures, Schneider said.
Schneider has been distinguished as a Responsible Care partner by the American Chemistry Council since 2007, making it one of the first carriers to receive the certification for a commitment to safety and sustainability.
“We’ve always admired how Schneider is constantly seeking better ways to operate,” said John F. Cannon, vice president of regulatory and industry affairs for Wabash National. “Together, we look forward to building on this commitment of continuous improvement for another 50 years and beyond.”
https://www.bulktransporter.com/tank-fleets/schneider-celebrating-50-years-bulk-shipping-sector
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(ACC Mentioned) The End of “Business as Usual”
Apr 22, 2019 | Wealth 365
By Paul Hodges
In my interview for Real Vision earlier this month, (where the world’s most successful investors share their thoughts on the markets and the biggest investment themes), I look at what data from the global chemical industry is telling us about the outlook for the global economy and suggest it could be set for a downturn.
“We look at the world and the world economy through the lens of the chemical industry. Why do we do that? Because the chemical industry is the third largest industry in the world after energy and agriculture. It gets into every corner of the world. Everything in the room which you’ll be watching this interview is going to have chemicals in it. And the great thing is, we have very good, almost real time data on what’s happening.
“Our friends at the American Chemistry Council have data going back on production and capacity utilization since 1987. So 30 years of data, and we get that within 6 to 8 weeks of the end of the month. So whereas, if you look at IMF data, you’re just looking at history, we’re looking at this is what’s actually going on as of today.
“We look, obviously, upstream, as we would call it, at the oil and feedstocks markets, so we understand what’s happening in that area. But we also– because the chemical industry is in the middle of the value chain, you have to be like Janus. You have to look up and down at the same time, otherwise one of these big boys catches you out.
“And so we look downstream. And we particularly look at autos, at housing, and electronics, because those are the big three applications. And of course, they’re pretty big for investors as well. So we see the relative balance between what’s happening upstream, what’s happening downstream, where is demand going, and then we see what’s happening in the middle of that chain, because that’s where we’re getting our data from.
“As the chart shows, our data matches pretty well to IMF data. It shows changes in capacity utilization, which is our core measurement. If if you go back and plot that against history from the IMF, there is very, very good correlation. So what we’re seeing at the moment– and really, we’ve been seeing this since we did the last interview in November— is a pretty continuous downturn.
“One would have hoped, when we talked in November, we were talking about the idea that things have definitely cooled off. Some of that was partly due to the oil price coming down. Some of that was due to end of year destocking. Some of that was due to worries about trade policy. Lots of different things, but you would normally expect the first quarter to be fairly strong.
“The reason for this is that the first quarter– this year, particularly– was completely free of holidays. Easter was late, so there was nothing to interrupt you there. There was the usual Lunar New Year in China, but that always happens, so there’s nothing unusual about that.
And normally what happens is, that in the beginning of the new year, people restock. They’ve got their stock down in December for year end purposes, year end tax purposes, now they restock again. And of course, they build stock because the construction season is coming along in the spring and people tend to buy more cars in that period, and electronics, and so on.
“So everything in the first quarter was very positive. And one wouldn’t normally be surprised to start seeing stock outs in the industry, particularly after a quiet period in the fourth quarter. And unfortunately, we haven’t seen any of that. We’ve seen– and this is worth thinking about for a moment– we’ve seen a 25% rise in the oil price because of the OPEC Russia deal, but until very recently we haven’t seen the normal stock build that goes along with that.”
As we note in this month’s pH Report, however, this picture is now finally changing as concern mounts over oil market developments – where unplanned outages in Venezuela and elsewhere are adding to the existing cutbacks by the OPEC+ countries. Apparent demand is therefore now increasing as buyers build precautionary inventory against the risk of supply disruption and the accompanying threat of higher prices.
In turn, this is helping to support a return of the divergence between developments in the real economy and financial markets, as the rise in apparent demand can easily be mistaken for real demand. The divergence is also being supported by commentary from western central banks. This month’s IMF meeting finally confirmed the slowdown that has been flagged by the chemical industry since October, but also claimed that easier central bank policies were already removing the threat of a recession.
We naturally want to hope that the IMF is right. But history instead suggests that periods of inventory-build are quickly reversed once oil market concerns abate.
Please click here if you would like to see the full interview.
https://news.wealth365.com/the-end-of-business-as-usual/
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(ACC Mentioned) ACC Pushes Chemical Recycling Legislation
Apr 22, 2019 | Plastics News
By Steven Toloken
The plastics industry is making a push in states for new laws to make it easier to build next-generation recycling plants that turn waste plastics into feedstocks and fuels, and it recently has secured victories in Iowa and Tennessee.
But the effort — designed to carve out a clearer regulatory approval path for what's called chemical recycling — is drawing opposition from environmental groups and some state legislators in Rhode Island, South Carolina and Texas.
The new laws sought by plastics companies and the American Chemistry Council would regulate the plants as manufacturing operations, rather than landfills or solid waste disposal facilities, making it easier to get government approvals.
The recent action in Iowa and Tennessee follows similar successful efforts in Florida, Georgia and Wisconsin.
The push in state governments is linked to the industry's broader $1 billion Alliance to End Plastic Waste. Research into chemical recycling is a key part of the initiative's attempt to find viable markets for hard-to-recycle plastics.
ACC says pyrolysis and other chemical recycling technologies will create economic opportunities.
The association said converting plastics into transportation fuels, for example, could power 98,000 cars a year in Iowa and 219,000 in Tennessee. It estimates that diverting 25 percent of Tennessee's plastic into such chemical recycling facilities could support eight factories and generate $264 million in economic output a year.
"We're pleased to see legislation that attracts new businesses and supports job creation by treating post-use plastics as raw materials for 'manufacturing' and not as 'waste,'" said Craig Cookson, senior director of recycling and recovery for Washington-based ACC, in an April 9 statement supporting Iowa and Tennessee's actions.
The laws will "create a welcoming environment for businesses to convert more post-use plastics into valuable raw materials, thereby keeping more of our plastic resources out of landfills," he said.
Rick Wagner, sustainability policy and program manager at Chevron Phillips Chemical Co., told a Texas state House committee hearing in March that the legislation would create more certainty for investors.
He told legislators that a CP Chem joint venture, Americas Styrenics, has a partnership with Agilyx Corp. to chemically recycle polystyrene into styrene monomer and that the legislation in Texas would help investors by clarifying how waste plastic feedstocks are regulated.
"With the ability to turn those products back into usable building blocks, we're pioneering technology to keep waste out of the environment and create a circular solution with real economic value," Wagner said. "It provides difficult-to-recycle materials with an additional use."
https://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20190422/NEWS/190429997/acc-pushes-chemical-recycling-legislation
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Apr 22, 2019 | Northern California Record
By Josh Breslin
California legislators have parked a bill that would have banned the use of a range of chemicals in personal health care products.
Members of the Assembly's Environment, Safety and Toxic Materials Committee failed to vote on the Toxic-Free Cosmetics Act, AB 495 after it became clear supporters did not have enough votes to move it to the Health Committee.
The legislation, opposed by industry groups who argue the bill's sponsors hugely simplified the issue, aimed to ban 20 chemicals and chemical groups, including mercury, lead, phthalates, formaldehyde, triclosan and fluorinated compounds known as per- and polyfluoroalkyls (PFAS).
They would have been labeled “adulterated cosmetics” and banned from sale in California. The bill is sponsored by Environmental Working Group and CALPIRG, the California-headquartered consumer advocacy organization.
Supporters hoped that given California's outsized consumer heft that the ban would spread across the country.
Andrew Fasoli of the American Chemistry Council, a trade association, previously told the Northern California Record that the state "already has a process in place to do exactly what this legislation is intending to do."
"In 2013, DTSC’s (Department of Toxic Substances Control) Safer Consumer Products Program took effect, creating a rule making authority that brings multiple stakeholders to the table to determine the risks that chemicals in consumer products pose and if a viable and effective alternative is available," Fasoli said.
"It does not make sense for the legislature to circumvent a program that they created and completely ignore the determinations made by qualified experts.”
Jay Ansell, vice president of the trade group Personal Care Products Council, told the Los Angeles Times that the bill “grossly oversimplifies the complex science behind the ingredients in cosmetics and personal-care products.”
Ansell added that independent experts around the world found the chemicals named in the bill were "safe when used under prescribed conditions in cosmetics and personal-care products."
He told the LA Times that "laws like AB 495 would just contribute to the patchwork of state and local regulations that do not represent the best relevant and available science.”
The issue of PFAS chemical compounds, of which there are some 5,000 but around 100 in use in a wide range of consumer products as well as in fire-fighting foam used by both the military and civilian emergency crews, was the subject of a recent U.S. Senate committee hearing.
Susan D. Richardson, a professor of chemistry at the University of South Carolina and affiliated with the American Chemical Society, has written several review articles on the toxicity of PFAS compounds.
Richardson told the Northern California Record that it is her understanding that these compounds are included in personal care products to add stabilization and consistency.
Few human studies have been carried out on their impact and whether there are links between the compounds, particularly two of the most historically common, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), and certain conditions and diseases, the professor said, adding that the reason is due to their expense.
One study on residents in the Mid-Ohio Valley in West Virginia, included on the website of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), did conclude "PFOA exposure was associated with kidney and testicular cancer in this population. Because this is largely a survivor cohort, findings must be interpreted with caution, especially for highly fatal cancers such as pancreatic and lung cancer."
The residents were downriver from a DuPont facility that manufactured products containing PFOA.
While personal care products are the target in California, the PFAS compounds can be found in microwave popcorn, inside pizza boxes, ski jackets, dental floss, Teflon-coated cooking pans, and brand names such as Scotch Guard.
The use of PFOA and PFAS has largely been discontinued, but Richardson noted that the so-called Gen X replacements, which it was thought would degrade much quicker, remains stable in the environment, including drinking water.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee heard testimony from representatives of the NIH, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Centers for Disease Control on the potential impact of a man-made, fluorine-based chemical class.
It focused on those two most-widely used historically - the ones provoking the deepest concern. National health agencies have been investigating health concerns regarding the chemicals for three decades, largely over their seeping into drinking and ground water.
Members also heard testimony and questioned a senior official from the Department of Defense, which used large amounts of the foam known as AFFF. For years, the foam was used in training and to fight fires and contained the two chemicals in the class.
https://norcalrecord.com/stories/512448787-bill-aimed-at-banning-chemicals-in-personal-care-products-stalls-in-california-legislature
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District Judge Allows Flint Residents to Sue EPA Over ‘Negligence’
Apr 22, 2019 | Inside EPA
A federal district judge is allowing residents of Flint, MI, to proceed with a broad suit seeking monetary damages over EPA’s alleged “negligent” handling of the city’s lead in drinking water crisis, rejecting the agency’s bid to dismiss the suit and writing that EPA’s response to Flint “cannot be justified by any permissible exercise of policy judgment.”
The April 18 order by Judge Linda V. Parker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan means plaintiffs can proceed with the case Burgess, et al., v. United States, which is one of many pending cases over lead contamination in the city’s water system that dates to 2014 but has yet to be fully addressed.
In Burgess, nearly 5,000 Flint residents are seeking damages under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), which allows private citizens harmed by an act of the federal government to seek restitution, and to sue in district court if their claims are denied -- as EPA denied claims over its handling of the lead crisis.
While the FTCA has exceptions for cases where an agency is acting on discretion given to it by Congress -- known as the discretionary function exemption -- Parker says EPA’s duty in Flint was so clear that it had no legal choice but to act, and its failure to work quickly under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) can be penalized through the torts law if the plaintiffs support their claims with evidence.
“[T]he EPA’s failure to warn Flint residents of the severe health risks the City’s water supply posed to them cannot be justified by any permissible exercise of policy judgment,” Parker writes.
Citing appellate court cases that say agencies lack discretion to avoid acting on clear public-health hazards, she continues, “At issue here is an obvious danger imperiling a city’s nearly 100,000 residents. . . . This fact further suggests that this is an instance where decisions by government actors, even if discretionary, ‘may pass a threshold of objective unreasonableness such that no reasonable observer would see them as susceptible to policy analysis.’”
EPA has drawn both widespread criticism and legal attacks for waiting until January 2016 to issue a SDWA emergency order to combat the lead contamination caused by switching the city’s water supply to the corrosive Flint River, even though Region 5 water office employee Miguel del Toral submitted an interim report in 2015 that warned of major public health concerns from lead contamination in Flint homes.
“The EPA was well aware that the Flint River was highly corrosive and posed a significant danger of lead leaching out of the City’s lead-based service lines at alarming rates into residents’ homes. The EPA was well aware of the health risks posed by lead exposure, particularly to children and pregnant women. Mr. Del Toral certainly made the risks clear to his Region 5 colleagues within the first half of 2015,” Parker writes.
An attorney for the Burgess plaintiffs tells Inside EPA that the government is expected to appeal Parker’s order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, which covers Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. Any decision from the appellate court on the scope of the FTCA could impact not just for the Flint case but also pending suits on the 2015 Gold King Mine wastewater spill that also include tort claims and an attempt by EPA to invoke the discretionary function exemption.
A 6th Circuit ruling on the scope of that exemption would not be binding on the Gold King cases, which are being heard in a New Mexico federal district court, but would still have persuasive weight.
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/district-judge-allows-flint-residents-sue-epa-over-%E2%80%98negligence%E2%80%99
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Apr 22, 2019 | EcoWatch
By Jessica Corbett
In a ruling welcomed by public health advocates, a federal court on Friday ordered the Trump administration to stop stalling a potential ban on a pesticide linked to brain damage in children, giving regulators until mid-July to make a final decision.
Citing unacceptable health risks for children, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ended household use of chlorpyrifos in 2000. However, farmers can still use the pesticide — which is also tied to nervous system problems in people and animals — on crops such as apples, broccoli, corn and strawberries.
The unanimous ruling Friday from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit is the latest development in a drawn out court battle between the EPA — which blocked a planned agricultural ban on chlorpyrifos in 2017 — and the anti-pesticide, environmental and farmworkers organizations who disagreed with that decision.
Earthjustice attorney Patti Goldman, who represents the groups fighting to ban the pesticide from foods, commended the court for its ruling in a statement Friday.
"While we are moving forward, the tragedy is that children are being exposed to chlorpyrifos, a pesticide science has long shown is unsafe," she said. "We hope Trump's EPA finally decides to protect the future of countless children and the health of millions of farmworkers."
Noting that public health advocates have been working to outlaw the pesticide for more than a decade, Natural Resources Defense Council senior attorney Mae Wu said, "All the science says EPA must ban."
Kristin Schafer, executive director of the Pesticide Action Network, tweeted, "No more delay, [EPA]."
Scandal-ridden former EPA chief Scott Pruitt blocked the ban on chlorpyrifos in March of 2017, shortly after he met with the chief executive of Dow Chemical, which has been selling the pesticide for decades and lobbied against restrictions on it.
The appeals court ruled last August that the EPA had illegally impeded the ban and ordered the agency to finalize its proposal. But then, the EPA requested a rehearing, which the court granted in February.
Shortly before the rehearing last month, Goldman explained the legal issues behind the case in a short video:
Environmental Working Group president Ken Cook, in a statement Friday, criticized EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler — who replaced Pruitt — for failing to ban the pesticide and urged him to fulfill the agency's mission to protect human health and the environment.
"We'll find out in three months if the Trump EPA remains under the tight control of the chemical agriculture industry, or if Administrator Wheeler will finally take his job seriously and ban this brain-damaging pesticide," said Cook. "It's deplorable that Wheeler has defied the court's order for almost nine months, and it's time for him to do his job and protect public health."
https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-chlorpyrifos-court-2635261283.html
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Trump’s Liquefied Natural Gas Push Bolsters German Cruise Liners
Apr 22, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Brian Parkin, William Wilkes, and Vanessa Dezem
President Donald Trump’s bid to dump a glut of liquefied natural gas on Europe is getting an unlikely boost: stringent regulations on shipping emissions that are prompting the continent’s shipyards to hunt for alternatives to high-polluting diesel.
The International Maritime Organization will clamp down next year on sulfur and carbon emissions from diesel-powered ships. That’s sparked a hunt for less-polluting fuels, with the global glut in liquefied natural gas, or LNG, luring European cruise and non-cargo lines to turn to the fuel. And it’s benefiting shipyards in Germany, home to the world’s largest merchant navy fleet, which are tapping a booming cruise industry.
“Germany can’t make LNG cruise ships fast enough—we’re top of the shop right now,” said Ralf Soeren Marquardt, managing director of the VSM German shipbuilders federation, on the phone from Hamburg last week. “Special shipbuilding in which Germany led for so long is getting a huge boost.”
All but two of 11 cruise ships on order at Meyer Werft GmbH’s Cloppenburg wharf on the North Sea are LNG-propelled. The wharf’s order books are full to 2023, spokesman Guenther Kolbe said Thursday by phone. In November, the yard finished the 180,000-ton AIDAnova liner, the world’s first LNG cruise ship. Owner Carnival Corporation & Plc, the world’s largest leisure travel enterprise, aims to boost its LNG fleet by 11 ships in coming years.
Getting Financing
Germany’s leading shipping financiers including NordLB AG and Commerzbank AG are winding wind down their loan portfolios. The government and its development bank KfW Group are stepping in to help finance construction of LNG liners.The AIDAnova cruise liner.Source:
Meyer Werft GmbH
LNG propulsion is 20 to 30 percent more expensive than diesel motors and the government subsidizes as much as 60 percent of the higher costs, said George Ehrmann, managing director of Germany’s Maritime LNG Platform, which promotes the new technology.
Just 0.4 percent of total global shipping by tonnage is made up of cruise ships but the sector’s switch to LNG will in time give a lift to other German special shipping such as research ships and offshore wind installation ships, and to diesel-to-LNG conversion equipment, Ehrmann said in an interview earlier this month.
No Terminal
Germany has been slow to warm to LNG’s possibilities and is the only major European market without an import terminal for the fuel. Until mid-decade, the government in Berlin rebuffed pressure from Group of Seven partners including the U.S. and Japan to broaden the diversity of its natural gas supplies, touting instead its reliance on pipeline gas.
The stance started crumbling last year under U.S. pressure, and politicians including Chancellor Angela Merkel have started meantime to fall in line with shipbuilders, coastal administrations seeking to build LNG terminals and logistics companies in espying the possibilities of LNG as a maritime revenue earner as the IMO pollution clamps loom.
For the first time in her 14-year chancellorship Merkel will next month open the nation’s annual maritime congress. LNG propulsion for inland shipping is a major topic. Later this year her government is slated to name two sites for North Sea LNG terminals.
Skeptics point to formidable barriers to entry for upstart LNG. Storage tanks and cooling equipment limit space available for the usual shipping crew and cargo. Unlike diesel, the fuel is potentially explosive when leaks occur and major spillages of ultra-chilled fuel would crack ships’ steel hulls.
Navies don’t plan LNG ships for those reasons. LNG-refueling infrastructure is still scarce at international ports and shipping companies and banks are short on investment cash after a vicious industry slump that unleashed a wave of bankruptcies.
“There are not enough fueling stations worldwide to supply LNG fuel to vessels, which is a bottleneck,” said Basil Karatzas, chief executive officer of New York-based Karatzas Marine Advisers, who compared the transition to that from sail ships to steam. “Enough ships have to be built for LNG, and they cannot be built unless there is enough bunkering capacity.”
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/trumps-lng-push-is-helping-power-german-green-cruise-liner-boom
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FERC Authorizes Driftwood, Port Arthur LNG Projects
Apr 22, 2019 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Charlie Passut
A divided FERC voted to authorize two liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects Thursday, as Commission staff reported that the United States is likely to continue as a net exporter of natural gas in 2019, with six fully operational LNG export terminals online by year's end.
Subscription required for full article.
https://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/118102-ferc-authorizes-driftwood-port-arthur-lng-projects
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GAO Urges Interior to Improve Oil and Gas Oversight
Apr 22, 2019 | E&E - Greenwire
By Michael Doyle
The Interior Department lags on carrying out urgent recommendations made in 2012 for improving the oversight of offshore oil and gas activities, a federal watchdog warns in a new advisory.
In a quick snapshot of high-priority issues facing Interior, the Government Accountability Office identified a lingering need for tightening the focus on offshore operations.
"Management of federal oil and gas resources is one of the highest risks facing the government," GAO notes. "Offshore oil and gas production, while an important energy source, poses risks to the environment and human safety."
Nearly seven years ago, GAO advised in a July 2012 assessment that Interior adopt a "risk-based approach" with offshore drilling operations. This includes setting clear criteria to categorize operations according to risk, allowing officials to best tailor oversight.
One notion has been to develop a risk score for proposed wells based on location, design and other technical considerations. Regulators would use this score to guide them in monitoring well activity reports, inspecting drilling operations and more.
"Interior officials previously told us they have the technical capacity to implement this recommendation and ongoing initiatives to address it, but had not completed them as of October 2018," GAO reported in its new advisory.
Interior agreed with GAO's recommendation to implement the risk-based approach.
In March 2018, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement announced it would be switching to a "risk-based inspection program," which it called a "systematic framework to identify facilities and operations that exhibit a high-risk profile" (Greenwire, March 13, 2018).
GAO summarized the offshore drilling issues and six other "priority recommendations" in an April 12 letter to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt that was made public Friday.
Sent to Bernhardt on his first full day as secretary, following his April 11 Senate confirmation, the GAO letter is part of a broader, never-ending and governmentwide assessment of executive branch operations.
Despite some shortcomings, Interior seems to have a pretty good overall track record.
Last November, GAO reported that among all agencies, 77% of recommendations made four years earlier had been implemented. The department's recommendation implementation rate was 78%, with 152 recommendations still open as of January 2019.
"Fully implementing these open recommendations could significantly improve Interior's operations," GAO stated.
Last Monday, in a memo to Interior employees, Bernhardt enumerated his own priorities, which include "administering the appropriate development of all forms of energy" on federal lands and offshore and "to eliminate unnecessary steps and duplicative reviews, while maintaining rigorous environmental standards."
"We have moved forward promptly to implement the President's priorities, and we will continue to do so," Bernhardt wrote.
In another recommendation, with which Interior agreed, GAO called for continued improvements in how the Bureau of Indian Affairs handles energy projects, as evaluators observed that "the length of review and response times has hindered development opportunities."
An earlier GAO review, issued in 2015, noted that some BIA reviews took years to complete; one lease for a proposed utility-scale wind project took the agency more than three years to review and approve.
The new GAO advisory states BIA "has taken initial steps" to improve tracking of energy projects, while more work remains.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2019/04/22/stories/1060200101
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Oil Industry Fumes as USDA Chief Champions Ethanol
Apr 22, 2019 | E&E - Greenwire
By Marc Heller
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue may be a hero to corn farmers who like ethanol mandates, but the petroleum industry has a less glowing term for the former governor of Georgia: lobbyist.
Perdue, who came to office with scant background in the politics of biofuels, has emerged as a top public voice for ethanol, setting up a sometimes-awkward dynamic with the agency that actually runs the renewable fuels program, EPA, and its administrator, Andrew Wheeler.
In setting policies around biofuels, EPA is supposed to weigh the impact on petroleum as well, and Perdue's pressure on the White House has caught the attention of both sides in the debate on the renewable fuels standard.
Ethanol advocates praise the USDA secretary's outspoken role while the petroleum industry complains that he is overstepping his jurisdiction. They say that Perdue and his chosen deputy Agriculture secretary, former soybean lobbyist Steve Censky, promote misleading information about ethanol's benefits.
"Secretary Perdue has been quite active in pushing a particular RFS agenda, even when doing so hurts consumers, small retailers, refiners and industrial workers," said Scott Segal, himself a lobbyist and an advocate for the petroleum industry.
"USDA does not have a formal role when it comes to the RFS," Segal said. "The technical expertise resides within EPA, with the Energy Department having some input. So, when USDA inserts itself, it creates the mistaken impression that the RFS is just another agricultural subsidy when it's really a clean air program."
Ethanol advocates say they are elated that Perdue seems to be making headway, particularly in pushing the administration to move faster toward approving higher-ethanol fuel called E15 for sale this summer.
"Secretary Perdue has been just a phenomenally effective voice and advocate for agriculture and for renewable fuels within this administration," said Geoff Cooper, president of the Renewable Fuels Association, at a recent roundtable with reporters.
"He has been committed to doing whatever he can to ensure EPA is implementing the RFS in a way to grow the industry and to grow demand for his constituents in Agriculture," Cooper said. "He doesn't lack interest and passion in the issues, and I think to the extent that he is sharing his views with Administrator Wheeler that's helpful to us."
Energy lobbyists told E&E News that EPA officials aren't pleased with the pressure coming from Perdue but that he isn't the first Agriculture secretary to push the environmental agency. During the Obama administration, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack — a former Iowa governor — was a strong ally for ethanol, said Brian Jennings, CEO of the American Coalition for Ethanol. But the Obama White House may have been less willing to listen to Vilsack, Jennings said. Trump has personally inserted himself into the issue by promising to boost ethanol, further fueling the debate.
Perdue, for his part, has portrayed a positive relationship with Wheeler.
They've appeared together to promote the reduction of food waste.
When Perdue declared in March that EPA wouldn't be able to ensure sales of 15% ethanol fuel this summer — prompting a public correction from Wheeler's office — USDA within hours posted a photo of the two men smiling at a meeting in Perdue's office, seemingly pasting over any perceived tension.
"Appreciate him moving expeditiously to finalize E15 rule before the start of summer driving season," Perdue said in a tweet accompanying the photo.
Perdue's initiation into the ethanol fight may have come during the Commodity Classic, an annual farm trade show, in Anaheim, Calif., in February 2018. Newly confirmed as secretary, Perdue met with farmers and commodity groups and delivered the keynote address at the event, the biggest of its kind in the country.
"He was out there for several days. By the time he left, he understood," said Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, among the groups meeting with Perdue. "He left informed and energized."
Since then, Perdue has regularly said he hopes EPA will make moves to increase demand for ethanol.
When President Trump said he was directing EPA to make E15 fuel available year-round in October 2018, Perdue issued a statement: "Consumers will have more choices when they fill up at the pump, including environmentally friendly fuel with decreased emissions. It is also an excellent way to use our high corn productivity and improved yields. Year-round sale of E15 will increase demand for corn, which is obviously good for growers. This has been a years-long fight and is another victory for our farm and rural economies."
Perdue has even adopted a term coined by the ethanol industry, "demand destruction," to criticize the exemptions EPA grants to small refineries that claim biofuel blending requirements bring them economic hardship. EPA has granted 39 such exemptions during the Trump administration, and a similar number have petitions pending.
Petroleum industry sources object to the "demand destruction" term, saying there's little if any evidence that small-refinery exemptions result in less demand for ethanol. They point to studies by a University of Chicago economist often friendly to ethanol, Scott Irwin, who has said the exemptions don't seem to undermine demand. Little, if any, waning of demand could be attributed to small refinery waivers, Irwin has said.
The petroleum industry is watching Censky, a former president of the American Soybean Association, about as closely as it's tracking Perdue. As head of the soybean industry group, Censky advocated for biodiesel, made from soybeans and also tied to the renewable fuel standard. He's now Perdue's right-hand man.
Censky signaled USDA's approach in a speech at the American Coalition for Ethanol's spring fly-in on April 3.
In an address that a petroleum industry source said caught his attention, Censky said he wished USDA had a bigger say in determining refinery exemptions and would keep pressure on EPA. And he promised to keep pressure on EPA on the next ethanol battle too — how the agency sets minimum ethanol blending volumes after 2020, when the RFS law gives EPA more flexibility to set the levels without congressional dictates.
"We plan on playing a very robust role as EPA moves forward with that," Censky told the group. "Whether we're asked or not."
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2019/04/22/stories/1060200113
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Energy Transfer to Restart Mariner East 1 Liquids Pipeline
Apr 22, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rachel Adams-Heard
Energy Transfer’s Sunoco said it will restart its Mariner East 1 natural gas liquids pipeline, according to a press release from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.
Mariner East 1 has been offline since Jan. 20, following a sinkhole incident that exposed a section of the 88-year-old pipeline.
A January agreement required 72 hours notice of intent to restart the line. The company provided notice at about 3 p.m. ET April 19.
Sunoco said it will take “enhanced safety actions,” including conducting geophysical tests in the right-of-way area behind the incident site every six months for two years.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/energy-transfer-to-restart-mariner-east-1-liquids-pipeline
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SCOTUS Will Hear $143 Million CITGO Oil Spill Case
Apr 22, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Steven M. Sellers
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed today to hear CITGO’s appeal over $143 million in oil spill cleanup costs caused when a submerged anchor pierced a tanker as it approached a New Jersey refinery.
The April 22 decision to take up the case means the high court will wade into a circuit split over the standard of care terminal owners owe in assuring a safe berth for vessel operators to unload cargo.
Safe berth clauses are common in maritime contracts and are designed to assure a ship’s safety, but federal circuit courts have disagreed about what duty terminal and dock owners owe to incoming vessels when things go wrong.
The Second and Third Circuits view such contracts as a guarantee of safe passage. The Fifth Circuit construes such clauses as requiring a lesser duty of due diligence.
Here, the uncharted anchor—abandoned by an unknown party and 900 feet from the terminal dock in Paulsboro, N.J.—punched two holes in the 178-foot Athos I, spilling approximately 263,000 gallons of oil into the Delaware River in 2004.
It was undisputed that CITGO Asphalt Refining Co. and its parent company had no knowledge of the submerged anchor.
But, in a pair of appeals, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ultimately ruled CITGO was strictly liable for the damage because it made “an express assurance” without regard to the amount of diligence under safe berth clause in its contract with vessel operator Frescati Shipping Co. Ltd.
That ruling widened an existing circuit split, exposing terminals to uneven liability based on geography and CITGO to enormous and unfair cleanup costs, the petition for review states.
Frescati argued against review, noting that the CITGO companies “regret their decision not to bargain for a due-diligence standard” but should not now be “heard to cry foul when made to live up to the warranty they did bargain for.”
The federal government, which has a stake in the case under the Oil Pollution Act and because the vessel passed through a federally-regulated anchorage, also urged the court to decline the case.
It reminded the court that it refused to hear a related petition in 2014, and argued the Fifth Circuit’s 1990 decision, Orduna S.A. v. Zen-Noh Grain Corp., didn’t create the severe circuit split CITGO believes. That decision “has been approved only in academic circles” and should be reconsidered by the Fifth Circuit, the solicitor general’s office said.
Shipping Industry ConcernsThe maritime industry closely watched the case, which could affect millions of dollars in future shipping contracts.
The Third Circuit decision “ignores Supreme Court precedent dating back almost a century and half, where the Supreme Court affirmed a lower court holding that a charter agreement’s safe-berth provision does not constitute an absolute warranty on the part of the charterer,” the American Fuels & Petrochemical Manufacturers Association and the International Liquid Terminals Association argued in friend-of-the-court briefs filed in support of CITGO.
The Maritime Law Association of the United States and the Association of Ship Brokers and Agents (USA) Inc. argued in another amicus brief that the industry needs uniformity in assessing risks and allocating costs.
The groups didn’t take sides on whether the strict liability or due diligence duty of care applied, but urged the court to settle the question.
“However the safe-berth clause is construed, it is important for both parties to have a clear understanding of the risks they bear when they enter into a transaction,” the groups said.
Sidley Austin LLP represented CITGO. Goldstein & Russell PC and Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads LLP represented Frescati Shipping
The case is: CITGO Asphalt Refining Co. v. Frescati shipping Co., Ltd., U.S., No. 18-565, review granted 4/22/19.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/do-not-publish-scotus-will-hear-wont-hear-140m-citgo-oil-spill-case
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Justices to Weigh Who Pays for Oil Spill in River
Apr 22, 2019 | E&E - Greenwire
By Ellen M. Gilmer
The Supreme Court this morning agreed to take up a maritime law case stemming from an oil spill in the Delaware River 15 years ago.
The outcome could affect liability for future oil spills and other maritime accidents.
The justices will review CITGO Asphalt Refining Co. v. Frescati Shipping Co., a dispute over who was liable for the 2004 spill, which occurred after a Frescati oil tanker named Athos I struck an abandoned anchor and spilled 264,000 gallons, or more than 6,000 barrels, of crude. CITGO had chartered the tanker to deliver oil to its asphalt refiner in Paulsboro, N.J.
Frescati was deemed a "responsible party" under the Oil Pollution Act and conducted a $143 million cleanup, but it sought and received reimbursements for $88 million from the federal government. The government and the shipping company sued CITGO, saying the refining firm was responsible for ensuring a safe port and berth for Athos I under the terms of the voyage charter and therefore should be on the hook for cleanup costs.
Lower courts determined that the charter functioned as a guarantee by CITGO of the safety of the berth. CITGO took the case to the Supreme Court, arguing that the "safe berth" clause is not a guarantee of safety, but merely a commitment to due diligence by the refining company on the safety of the berth and port. CITGO maintains it fulfilled that commitment.
"No charterer would assume full liability for any accident that occurs as a ship approaches the charterer's nominated destination, including accidents that it has little or no ability to prevent," the company told the court last year.
The justices will review the question in the next term, which begins in October.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2019/04/22/stories/1060200199
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(ACC Mentioned) Many Brands Offer Eco-Friendly Options To Meet Consumer Demand
Apr 22, 2019 | Digital Media Solutions
By Sarah Cavill
Happy Earth Day! Started as a “national teach-in on the environment” in 1970, Earth Day has since become a time to show respect for the planet, and recently a time to express concerns about climate change and other environmental issues. Of particular concern to today’s consumers is excess packaging and post-consumer waste.
From 2014 to 2018, “plastic waste” increased as a Google search term. Many brands are taking note of the trend and creating responses to this consumer worry. As brands adopt more earth-friendly products, packaging and solutions, they are integrating earth-friendly messaging into the company “DNA” in an authentic way that resonates with environmentally-conscious consumers. Here are several companies making moves to help the planet, connect with modern consumers and burnish their brands’ pro-environment identities.
A Small Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) Brand Aims To Reduce Waste From An Everyday Object
Bite, a small direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand which sells toothpaste pills in glass bottles via a renewable subscription, is one of many brands using DTCstrategies to launch earth-friendly products. More than a billion toothpaste tubes are thrown out per year, and Bite’s goal is to reduce that preventable waste. With a mobile-friendly site and a strong consumer connection on social media, Bite is reaching younger demographics concerned about the environment. Generation Z and Millennials in particular are worried about how environmental damage, including excess packaging like toothpaste tubes, could impact the planet in their lifetimes.
Disney’s Smart Packaging Initiative Continues To Innovate Fun, Sustainable Solutions
In 2014, Disney launched their Smart Packaging Initiative (SPI) after six years of research and development into how best to reduce waste from toys — and make them easier for kids and parents to open. The aim of SPI is to reduce packaging, make more components recyclable, optimize sales performance and reduce costs for the company. Disney shared their SPI data and SPI measurement tool with toy manufacturers including Mattel, LEGO and Hasbro who have since applied some of the SPI integrations.
A popular implementation of SPI was Disney’s Moana doll. The packaging is 70% recycled paper printed with vegetable-based inks. The Moana box is created to be easily opened by kids and uses no glue or tape. Once opened, the packaging can be transformed into Moana’s boat, making it sustainable, reusable and fun.
McCormick & Company Redesigns Their Spice Jars To Create Recyclable And Reduced-Waste Options
Iconic spice manufacturer McCormick & Company aligned their 2025 corporate goals with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in an attempt to reduce their impact on the environment and promote sustainability. So far, McCormick has met several of their goals including a new container for their signature spice Old Bay, now made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a 100% recyclable plastic. This packaging change equated to a 16% reduction in “associated carbon emissions” according to Mike Okoroafor, McCormick’s Vice-President, Global Sustainability & Packaging Innovation.
McCormick implemented a 10% reduction in material for their European glass jars, with the lighter jars reducing carbon emissions from production and transport. By 2025, McCormick hopes to have an overall 25% reduction in their packaging carbon footprint, a 20% reduction in their water usage and 100% reused, recycled or repurposed packaging.
“Through this program, we are seeking to make a meaningful and measurable impact on our environment and to do what is best for the company, our consumers and our communities,” said Okoroafor.
MGA Entertainment Offers Toy Shoppers A Way To Recycle Post-Consumer Waste
MGA Entertainment, a U.S toy manufacturer, partnered with TerraCycle to offer a recycling option for L.O.L. Surprise fans. TerraCycle is an innovator in recycling and reusing pre-and-post consumer waste previously considered unrecyclable or hard to recycle. And L.O.L. Surprise toys are a part of the unboxing trend, which while full of fun surprises, leaves a lot of waste in its wake. The MGA/Terracycle partnership makes the recycling process simple for unboxers who can now simply fill up a box with their toy waste, print a label from the TerraCycle website and send it off for earth-friendly disposal. A recent study by the American Chemistry Council found an 11% uptick in recycling when stores offered in-store recycling, which indicates that consumers are eager to help when given the tools to do so.
Isaac Larian, CEO of MGA Entertainment says, “Soon all of MGA products and packaging will be recyclable.” Adding, “We all must do our part to save this beautiful planet for the next generation.”
TerraCycle Creates A Subscription Business Focused on Reusable Packaging And Customer Habits
TerraCycle continues their recycling and reusability innovations with the launch of Loop.
“The key thesis statement is we can't just recycle our way out of the garbage crisis,” says Tom Szaky, TerraCycle’s CEO and co-founder. “We need foundational changes. Our version of the foundational change is: How do we solve for disposability at the root cause, while matching the benefits?” Enter Loop. A subscription service (with an eventual brick and mortar presence as well) that offers consumers the chance to go beyond recycling.
Loop, created by TerraCycle, wants to re-introduce the “milkman model,” delivery mainstay until the 1960s, in which customers would receive deliveries of milk bottles to their doors and, once all the milk had been drunk, leave the bottles by the front door again for pick up.
Loop teamed up with TerraCycle’s impressive roster of brand partners to create reusable containers ranging from ice cream tubs to toothpaste tubes. Like any online order or subscription service, subscribers place the order online. But this time the order is sent in a reusable tote, which will be returned to Terracycle with the empty used containers. The containers are then washed and reused. A recent article on Greenbiz.com explains, “The entire process is handled by TerraCycle, from sale and delivery to package return and cleaning. In effect, TerraCycle is the online retailer, buying wholesale and selling retail. The package remains the property of the brand.”
TerraCycle hopes Loop’s business model will win over consumers reluctant to be inconvenienced or change their shopping habits. The goal says Szaky is to “mimic the way consumers already buy, use and dispose of packaging.”
Consumer demand for eco-friendly solutions to the plastic and post-consumer waste problem is growing, and companies can effectively meet those demands by aligning themselves with their customers’ values and shopping behaviors. Those brands looking to make real change for the planet and genuine connection with their customers, should be willing to use all available marketing optimizations.
https://insights.digitalmediasolutions.com/articles/earth-day-packaging
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Trump Agencies Work on Climate Change—Quietly—on Public Lands
Apr 22, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Bobby Magill
Climate change programs in federal land management agencies are quietly carrying on, even amid Trump administration hostility to such action.
The connection between public lands and solving climate change recently came up as a campaign issue in the 2020 presidential race. But that work is already happening, albeit on a smaller and quieter scale.
Employees at the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are continuing to take training courses on climate change mitigation, collect climate data, and participate in climate change and lands protection collaborations, among other efforts.
They’re doing so in far-flung offices in ways that don’t attract the attention of Trump administration officials in Washington, said Kit Muller, who was the BLM’s strategic planner at the agency’s headquarters until he retired in 2018.
“The state level and the field level, people have their heads down,” Muller said. “They’re continuing to do stuff, but they’re just not talking about it.”
‘Massive’ Government
Those who work on climate change in federal land management agencies are able to to so because “the federal government is massive,” said Daniel Kreeger, executive director of the Association of Climate Change Officers.
“I don’t know that this administration knows where to look for all that stuff,” Kreeger said.
Newly confirmed Interior Secretary David Bernhardt told the Senate in March that regulating greenhouse gas emissions isn’t an Interior Department responsibility.
But Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, whose agency includes the Forest Service, has said the impacts of climate change are managed the same, regardless of their cause.
Campaign Issue
The issue came to the forefront April 15, when Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) announced that she supports public lands protection and, if elected as president in 2020, would make it a priority to use public lands to mitigate climate change.
Using public lands to solve climate change was a focus of the National Park Service’s ongoing Climate Change Response Program, formed in 2009 by the Obama administration, which created numerous climate programs across the federal government.
But the Trump administration has been hostile to climate action. It has taken steps to remove the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement, proposed undoing the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, and aggressively pushed for oil and gas leasing and development on public lands.
President Donald Trump said in November that he doesn’t believe the conclusion of the administration’s National Climate Assessment that climate change could be extremely damaging to the U.S. economy.
While some climate programs in the federal lands management agencies are carrying on, many have been dismantled or downsized.
Adaptation, Budget Cuts
Among those are a network of climate adaptation science centers, which the Interior Department said April 3 would be realigned and restructured, and reduced from eight centers to four.
There has been bipartisan pushback in Congress against some of the Trump administration’s environmental program cuts.
Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), a member of the House Appropriations subcommittee overseeing Interior spending, said in March that White House officials know Congress isn’t going to go along with some of the proposed deep cuts to environmental programs.
The National Park Service climate program isn’t mentioned in any of the Trump administration’s annual budget requests for Interior. But its employees work for a park service program called Natural Resource Stewardship, which the administration targeted for a 2.5 percent budget cut in fiscal 2020 compared to fiscal 2018. The budget has been relatively flat since 2016.
Continentwide Program
The program is part of a collaboration among the three other lands management agencies, as well as Canadian and Mexican parks officials called the Committee on Cooperation for Wilderness and Protected Areas Conservation, or NAWPA. The group aims to conserve landscapes at the “continental scale.”
The committee released a report in 2012 promoting the idea that the 640 million acres of U.S. national parks, forests and other public lands, plus park lands in Canada and Mexico, add up to a natural solution to climate change because they are a storehouse for carbon dioxide, a repository of biological diversity, and a living laboratory for scientists.
NAWPA is administered by the Wild Foundation, a nonprofit organization that aims to protect wilderness areas.
The federal climate change response programs that were active in NAWPA are still intact, but “where the challenges lie with the agencies, there’s not a lot of support for new initiatives because they lack that official leadership at the top. Things continue to move forward quietly underneath,” said Amy Lewis, vice president of the Wild Foundation.
Today, NAWPA is focusing on enhancing “connectivity between conservation areas,” and working with indigenous organizations to conserve natural and cultural heritage, among other efforts, Interior spokeswoman Molly Block said.
The U.S. Forest Service also remains “engaged” in NAWPA, spokeswoman Babete Anderson said.
Climate Change Strategies
The Association of Climate Change Officers provides training to National Park Service employees to help them “discover how to better incorporate climate change strategies into planning and operations,” according to the service’s Climate Change Response Program April email newsletter.
Bloomberg is listed as an organizational member of the association, but is no longer active, the association’s Kreeger said.
“The fact is, almost everything Interior is responsible for is affected by climate change,” said Joel Clement, who served as Interior’s director of policy analysis until July 2017. He blew the whistle after being reassigned, saying he believed the move was retaliation for speaking out about the dangers climate change poses to Alaska Native communities.
“A lot of the work that the agencies do is inherently related to and affected by climate change,” Clement said. “You don’t necessarily need to be saying the words ‘climate change’ to work on it. That’s what a lot of the staff are doing now.”
Kreeger said hundreds of federal employees have completed the association’s climate training, and are able to “operationalize” strategies to mitigate climate change within their agencies—so long as knowledge of those efforts doesn’t rise to the Interior secretary’s office.
Perdue’s statements supporting acting on the impacts of climate change give Forest Service employees some cover, Kreeger said.
“Those sorts of statements give latitude for people within the agency, where there’s some latitude on resilience,” he said.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/interior-climate-change-programs-proceed-quietly-and-out-of-sight
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Census Case Could Sway Environmental Litigation
Apr 22, 2019 | E&E - Greenwire
By Niina Heikkinen
A high-profile court battle over adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census could have significant implications for legal challenges to federal agencies' rollbacks of environmental rules.
The Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments tomorrow in Department of Commerce v. New York. The case centers on whether the Trump administration violated the Constitution and federal law when Commerce decided — for the first time since the mid-20th century — to add a question asking whether census respondents are U.S. citizens.
The decision raised fierce objections that asking about citizenship would lead to a significant undercount of the total U.S. population and would have lasting implications for voter representation in Congress and allocation of federal funds to state and local governments.
Administrative law experts also say the Supreme Court's decision in the case will be relevant for plaintiffs challenging the Trump administration's sweeping changes to environmental regulations.
"The census case is a massive administrative law case with issues of agency power and irregularity and access to the courts, and these are issues that come up in most environmental law cases," said William Buzbee, a law professor at Georgetown University.
The case has drawn the attention of the Natural Resources Defense Council, which filed an amicus brief focusing on the legal debate over the case's administrative record — essentially the paper trail explaining the Commerce Department's decision.
NRDC focuses on what amount of documentation the federal government is required to show to establish how Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross decided to add the citizenship question to the census.
The federal government wants courts to look at a fairly narrow set of official records from the decisionmaking process, while New York and other challengers prefer a broader scope of review — a dynamic also at play in environmental litigation.
"There has been a clear pattern of the Trump administration, including in environmental cases in particular, of taking a far more constrained view of what the courts may look at when they review agency actions. This case is a particularly egregious example of that pattern," NRDC attorney Ian Fein told E&E News.
He pointed to litigation in a Montana district court in which the judge ordered the administration to flesh out the record in a case involving the Keystone XL pipeline.
Meanwhile, petitioners in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals are asking judges to order the administration to augment the record in a Toxic Substances Control Act case.
NRDC is watching how the Supreme Court weighs what records agencies must submit and what information lower courts should review. Fein warned that if agencies can choose which documents to provide to a court, it can allow the agency to create a "fictional account" of their decisionmaking.
"If agencies can control what facts the court even sees, it prevents a court from doing its job in determining whether an agency's action is lawful and reasoned," Fein said.
Executive discretion and the APA
Jennifer Nou, a law professor at the University of Chicago, said the real problem under the Administrative Procedure Act lies with whether or not the agency's actions were "arbitrary and capricious," the legal standard judges can use to toss agency decisions.
The court will evaluate factors like whether the Commerce Department failed to consider an important aspect of the problem, whether its explanations for action counter evidence from the agency, and whether there was "a lack of rational connection between the facts found and the choices made," Nou said during a conference call on the case hosted by the American Constitution Society last week.
She doubted that certain aspects of the federal government's arguments would gain traction, including Commerce's contention that its secretary had "unreviewable discretion" to make a decision to alter the 2020 census.
Buzbee noted that the district court case in New York, which was appealed to the Supreme Court, and two other district court cases in Maryland and California each found that the actions taken by Commerce contradicted what the record showed.
One point of contention in the district court cases was whether the courts were justified in seeking additional information not initially provided by Commerce to explain the reasoning underlying the decision to add the question.
Courts are allowed to seek additional information outside of the provided record if there are "certain unexplained irregularities" in it.
In all three district court decisions on the census case, the judges based their decisions on the record provided by the federal government, while also looking at outside materials to further support their rulings.
Buzbee said it's not clear whether the Supreme Court will decide to cut back on the ability of courts to assess those irregularities.
Nou suggested that, overall in the case, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas could be more sympathetic to Ross' decision. Justice Brett Kavanaugh is also a strong supporter of executive discretion, but his administrative law experience could make him more responsive to Administrative Procedure Act issues, she said.
Justice Stephen Breyer, she added, "thinks it's very important for administrative law decisions to be grounded in expertise, and I think he will almost certainly find an APA violation here."
NRDC's Fein said the environmental group will be tracking how the case resolves an issue its environmental lawyers have been tracking "day in and day out" in both defense and opposition to agency rulemaking.
"It's important to the integrity of judicial review and the actual decisionmaking," he said.
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2019/04/22/stories/1060199915
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Challenge to EPA’s ‘Voluntarily Withdrawn’ FOIA Policy Survives
Apr 22, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Peter Hayes
The EPA failed to shake off a suit challenging its treatment of certain Freedom of Information Act requests as “voluntarily withdrawn.”
The policy applies when the agency deems the requests to lack specifics and the requester doesn’t respond to a clarification request within ten days.
But to get an injunction against the agency, the Natural Resources Defense Council will need to show it will suffer “irreparable injury,” the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said April 19.
The NRDC must also address the other three factors of the test for the issuance of an injunction—that it lacks an adequate remedy at law, that the balance of hardships favors an injunction, and that the injunction would be in the public interest.
The NRDC showed enough of an injury to establish standing to sue—diverting resources to meet the EPA deadlines—allowing its suit to survive the motion to dismiss.
But that is a much lower bar then the injury necessary for an injunction, the court said.
The NRDC filed the suit in June 2017, challenging the policy, seeking information about new website-retention policies, and seeking records instructing EPA staff to remove specific material from the EPA website.
The EPA released some records responding to the FOIA request in 2018.
Judge Randolph D. Moss issued the opinion.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/nrdc-challenge-to-epa-voluntarily-withdrawn-policy-survives
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Capitalism Is the Best Force to Fight Climate Change
Apr 22, 2019 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Nick Lindquist
Amidst talks of a Green New Deal, the Paris Climate Accord, groups calling for government-led action, and more, there is a lot of public confusion surrounding environmental issues today. Though Democrats have always advocated for many of these things, 2020 candidates clambering for the spotlight have begun to embrace giant plans like the Green New Deal, despite having no real plan in place to accomplish it. However, there are alternatives to these unrealistic ploys, and they deserve a place in the conversation.
What isn’t being discussed nearly enough is private-sector-led environmental actions, and the potential we have to accelerate these efforts. Companies have been making their own operations more efficient and eco-friendly, green entrepreneurship has also grown significantly and is developing the green technology of the future.
Part of the reason private-sector companies are taking these actions is because they have to be innovative and forward thinking in order to survive. Consumers care about sound environmental practices more than ever before. They are more informed than ever about the environment and the impact it has on our everyday lives. Consumers are even willing to spend more on a product if it means that the product will have better environmental outcomes.
Furthermore, companies that have a mission bigger than just profits are more successful and retain employees better. Environmental and corporate social responsibility initiatives keep employees happier because they feel like they are doing good for the world by working at their company. A prime example is Unilever, whic has an employee engagement rate of 80 percent, far above the industry average for satisfied employees. Another plus is that a better motivated and satisfied workforce leads to higher revenues, according to a study by IBM.
Satisfied employees and consumers lead to better business outcomes, and green initiatives satisfy both of these stakeholders. This is not just a theory, either: Companies have tapped into this potential and are leading voluntarily. Through AI, software integration, more efficient appliances and technology, and a new generation of business leaders, private companies are revolutionizing the way they do business.
A major initiative is better supply chain management. A supply chain is essentially the timeline of a product from sourcing materials to putting a final product on the shelf. An iPhone, for example, has parts from all over the world built into every unit. The supply chain for the iPhone is the map of where all of those parts come from, what their costs are, and how they make it to the assembly plant and then into your hand as the final product. Through software and AI, companies are able to optimize their supply chain by sourcing materials more locally and that are more sustainable, which reduces energy consumption, all while optimizing cost. Apple has perhaps the best supply chain management strategy when factoring in social responsibility and environmental impact. It has brought 5 gigawattsof renewable energy into its supply chain, which is enough energy to power 3.5 million homes.
This new demand for green practices has grown the market for green technology and investments. Market forces and private investments have sparked tremendous growth of the wind industry in Texas. Texas produces the most wind energy in the United States. If Texas were a country, it would be a top 5 wind-producing country. California, on the other hand, produces as much renewable energy as does Texas, but took a mandate-based approach to solar production. As a result, their residential energy cost is over 58 percent above the national average. Contrary to what happens in a mandate-based energy transformation, energy costs in Texas are still low, with residential energy costs still 10 percent below the national average.
New, young companies are also forming to make the world better. 4Oceanis a company that collects ocean plastic and makes products out of it while recycling the rest. Since their founding, they have managed to gather over 4.2 million pounds of ocean garbage — and this is only one example of many.
The facts and figures also support the idea that free markets and private industry innovation are capable of achieving better environmental outcomes. The United States saw a 12 percent decrease in carbon emissions from 2007 to 2017. There is an increased emphasis on natural gas, nuclear, wind, hydro and more in order to live in a cleaner world. We are seeing clean energies thrive and the renewable energy market is one of the fastest growing job sectors.
We can accelerate our cleaner future by enacting smart policies that encourage the market to lead on these issues and drive the costs of green technologies down. In fact, this is the only way that has already been proven to work. If we were to expand on this and tap into the potential of American innovation and entrepreneurship, we could achieve so much more. We need a cleaner, greener future for the world, and the only way to achieve it is by building on the momentum the market has built.
https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/439949-time-for-the-private-sector-to-lead-on-earth-day
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