Preview Newsletter
PM ACC Clips Report - April 29, 2019
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(ACC Mentioned) US Expansion Should Last for Next 12 Months - NABE Survey
Apr 29, 2019 | ICIS
The current US economic expansion should last for at least the next year, according to a survey by the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) released on Monday. The NABE poll of 116 business employees in private... -
(ACC Mentioned) 5 Chevron Phillips Chemical Plants Receive AFPM's Elite Silver Safety Award
Apr 29, 2019 | Chevron Philips
Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP today announced the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) honored five of its Texas plants with the Elite Silver Safety Award for 2018 performance. The honor recognizes the... -
(ACC Mentioned) Court Orders US EPA to Revisit CBI Substantiation
Apr 29, 2019 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
A US court has ordered the EPA to revisit how it requires substantiation of confidentiality claims under TSCA, as the result of an NGO lawsuit. And according to the petitioning organisation’s attorney, this will result in companies needing... -
EPA, EDF Split Win in D.C. Circuit Fight Over Chemical Notification Rules
Apr 29, 2019 | Reuters
By Barbara Grzincic
The Environmental Defense Fund’s challenge to rules implementing the 2016 amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act met with mixed results on Friday, as a federal appeals court upheld most of the provisions adopted by the... -
Senators Urge EPA to Extend Methylene Chloride Protection to Workers
Apr 29, 2019 | Chemical Watch
By Lisa Martine Jenkins
Twenty-two US Senate Democrats have written to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler and agency toxics head Alexandra Dunn, expressing concern at the decision to exclude commercial uses from the methylene chloride ban the... -
Court Orders US EPA to Decide on Chlorpyrifos Ban
Apr 29, 2019 | Chemical & Engineering News
By BrittE. Erickson
The US Environmental Protection Agency must determine by mid-July whether to ban the organophosphate insecticide chlorpyrifos, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on April 19. The chemical has been linked to neurodevelopmental... -
Skin Contact Main Exposure Route for Flame Retardants in Furniture, Study Suggests
Apr 29, 2019 | Chemical Watch
By Dr Emma Davies
Human exposure to flame retardants in upholstered furniture comes mainly from skin contact, followed by ingestion and inhalation, according to a study at Emory University, US, published by safety science company Underwriters... -
California Bill Could Erode Plans for New Oil, Gas Drilling
Apr 29, 2019 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Richard Nemec
Curtailing or outright banning new oil and natural gas drilling in California is bubbling up as a back-burner public policy issue in the state capital, with proposed legislation that could impose a 2,500-foot setback for drilling. -
Fastest-Growing U.S. City Scrambling to Survive Shale Boom
Apr 29, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By David Wethe
In a state known for its oil-based booms and busts, Jerry Morales is convinced Midland, Texas, the unofficial capital of the Permian Shale Basin, has a chance to break from the pattern. In the Permian, “we don’t say boom anymore,”... -
Gas Drilling Taps Into Markets Beyond Energy
Apr 29, 2019 | Science Line
By Nina Pullano
Deep underground, the Earth holds vast power and possibility. Molecules of hydrogen and carbon arrange themselves in various combinations to form the fuel that heats our homes, cooks our food and lights our offices. -
How Linda Garcia Risked Everything To Keep Big Oil Out Of Her Community
Apr 29, 2019 | Huffington Post
By Nina Lakhani
Every time Linda Garcia’s cellphone pings, she wonders if it will be another death threat. The environmental activist has been targeted by anonymous callers for five years since taking on Big Oil to save her community from environmental... -
US Chemical Safety Board Urges Review of Hydrofluoric Acid Regulations
Apr 29, 2019 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Jeff Johnson
The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board has called on the US Environmental Protection Agency to review its regulation of hydrofluoric acid. One-third of the nation’s 150 petrochemical refineries use HF to produce high-octane... -
ExxonMobil Pipeline Settles Yellowstone River Spill Claims
Apr 29, 2019 | BNA Daily Evironment Report
By Peter Hayes
ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. will pay a $1 million civil penalty to resolve Clean Water Act allegations stemming from a crude oil spill from its Silvertip Pipeline into the Yellowstone River and shoreline. The consent decree filed April 26... -
Ewire: Paris Bill, Infrastructure on Agenda as Congress Returns
Apr 29, 2019 | Inside EPA
Congress is back in session today after a two-week break, with Democratic leaders poised to meet with President Donald Trump to discuss the prospects for major infrastructure legislation, while the House will consider a leadership... -
House GOP Starts Uphill Push This Week for Green New Deal Vote
Apr 29, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Tiffany Stecker
House Republicans will begin an effort April 30 to collect signatures to bring the Green New Deal resolution for a floor vote, according to House Minority Whip Steve Scalise’s (R-La.) office. The discharge petition, led by Rep. Jody Hice (R... -
House Democrats Tee Up Bill to Keep U.S. in Paris Climate Deal
Apr 29, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Dean Scott
House Democrats plan to deliver a message to President Donald Trump this week: At least one chamber in Congress wants the U.S. to stay in the 2015 Paris climate accord. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) plans to make a... -
Democrats Say EPA Stonewalling Their Oversight Efforts
Apr 29, 2019 | Politico Pro
By Anthony Adragna
Congressional Democrats say EPA is slow-walking their oversight demands even more under Administrator Andrew Wheeler than his scandal-tarred predecessor Scott Pruitt. Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), ranking member of the... -
New York Lawmakers Set to Vote on ‘Green’ Constitutional Amendment
Apr 29, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Keshia Clukey
New York could become the third state to add the right to clean air, clean water and a “healthful” environment to its constitution. Lawmakers coming back from a mid-session break are expected to vote this week on the environmental... -
Los Angeles Just Announced Its Own Green New Deal to Drastically Slash Emissions
Apr 29, 2019 | Fast Company
By Adele Peters
While Congress talks about the Green New Deal, a version of it is already underway in L.A. The city may be known for its gridlock and smog, but it also has an ambitious plan to transform itself to tackle climate change. Today, the city... -
Gov. Wolf Joins U.S. Climate Alliance, Releases Pennsylvania Climate Action Plan Supportive of Swift and Concrete Action on Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Apr 29, 2019 | Environmental Defense Fund
Gov. Tom Wolf today released the state’s Climate Action Plan, which assesses a suite of strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Pennsylvania. The plan, crafted for a state that has become one of the nation’s leading...
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(ACC Mentioned) US Expansion Should Last for Next 12 Months - NABE Survey
Apr 29, 2019 | ICIS
The current US economic expansion should last for at least the next year, according to a survey by the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) released on Monday.
The NABE poll of 116 business employees in private firms and trade groups also found more respondents reported rising sales and higher profit margins in the first quarter than in the previous survey.
Meanwhile, materials input costs remain elevated at respondents’ firms, especially goods-producing firms.
Fifty-two percent of survey respondents reported shortages of skilled labour at their firms, and tight labour market conditions continue to push firms to raise wages, increase training and consider additional automation.
While two-thirds (64%) of firms left their prices unchanged during the first quarter, 27% of respondents raised prices.
Regarding the US-China trade dispute, the net impact of tariffs on American companies is not positive, and the negative impacts are especially noted within the goods-producing sector, said Kevin Swift, president of the NABE and chief economist at the American Chemistry Council (ACC).
“A year after the US first imposed new tariffs on its trading partners in 2018, the recent tariffs have negatively affected more than one-fourth of respondents’ firms,” Swift added. “Only 1% of respondents — those from goods-producing firms — indicate tariffs have had some positive impact on business conditions at their firms.”
All survey respondents expect the American economy, as measured by the change in inflation-adjusted gross domestic product (real GDP), to increase over the next four quarters.
The Net Rising Index (NRI) for sales — the percentage of panelists reporting rising sales minus the percentage reporting falling sales — is 37, a significant gain from the reading of 29 in January.
Source: NABE
On the whole, prices charged rose during the first three months of 2019 and are expected to rise further during the next three months.
The NRI for wages and salaries remains strong. April’s reading of 57 is just a notch below January’s all-time high NRI of 58.
More than half of survey respondents (52%) report shortages of skilled labor at their firms. This is an increase from the 45% who reported shortages a year ago.
Goods-producing panelists report tariff impacts have most influenced higher costs (67%), higher selling prices (50%), and negative sales (42%). Goods-producers also report the most common adjustment to plans for hiring and investing at their firms are changes in sourcing and supply chain shifts.
April survey results suggest that the pause in Fed funds policy rate increases appears to be favorable for business conditions.
https://www.icis.com/explore/resources/news/2019/04/29/10354467/us-expansion-should-last-for-next-12-months-nabe-survey
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(ACC Mentioned) 5 Chevron Phillips Chemical Plants Receive AFPM's Elite Silver Safety Award
Apr 29, 2019 | Chevron Philips
Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP today announced the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) honored five of its Texas plants with the Elite Silver Safety Award for 2018 performance. The honor recognizes the nation’s top 5 percent of refining and petrochemical manufacturing facilities based on personnel and process safety performance.
The following Chevron Phillips Chemical facilities received the prestigious safety award: Alamo (Conroe), Cedar Bayou, Pasadena Plastics Complex, Port Arthur and Sweeny/Old Ocean. AFPM presented teams from each location with the annual award during its National Occupational and Process Safety Conference on April 25 in Grapevine, Texas.
“This recognition reflects Chevron Phillips Chemical’s longstanding tradition of safety and caring for employees, contractors, customers and the communities where we operate,” said Kate Holzhauser, vice president of environment, health, safety and security. “The company’s commitment to Our Journey to Zero strategy is what continues to propel us in the right direction to eliminate high-potential and high-consequence process and personnel safety events. This award is a testament to our progress.”
Each year, members of AFPM’s Safety & Health Committee select the recipients for the Elite Silver Safety Award. The recognition is part of the AFPM Safety Awards, a comprehensive initiative promoting accident prevention in the petroleum refining and petrochemical manufacturing industries. AFPM’s Elite Silver Safety Award honors those companies who have demonstrated excellent program innovation and leadership in occupational safety and health.
Chevron Phillips Chemical retains a top-quartile safety record among peer member companies for combined employees’ and contractors’ recordable incident rates, based on the latest available data reported by the American Chemistry Council’s (ACC) Responsible Care program. The company also is active in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Voluntary Protection Program, with 18 of 18 wholly-owned U.S. facilities designated as OSHA VPP Star Sites. Among its many other safety awards received in recent years, the company was the 2016 recipient of the ACC’s Responsible Care Company of the Year, and it received 18 safety awards from the Texas Chemical Council for 2017 performance.
http://www.cpchem.com/en-us/news/Pages/AFPM-Safety-Awards.aspx
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(ACC Mentioned) Court Orders US EPA to Revisit CBI Substantiation
Apr 29, 2019 | Chemical Watch
By Kelly Franklin
A US court has ordered the EPA to revisit how it requires substantiation of confidentiality claims under TSCA, as the result of an NGO lawsuit. And according to the petitioning organisation’s attorney, this will result in companies needing to provide "significantly more evidence" before they can protect as confidential the identity of a substance.
The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit issued a 26 April order on the Environmental Defense Fund’s 2017 legal challenge to the EPA’s final inventory notification (inventory reset) rule, EDF v EPA.
In the case, the EDF challenged: the EPA’s failure to include a substantiation question addressing whether a substance’s identity could be determined through reverse engineering; that a company could "maintain" an existing confidentiality claim even if it was not the original claimant; the agency’s omission of certain confidentiality requirements in the rule; a failure to implement provisions related to the application of ‘unique identifiers’; and the notification exemption for exported chemicals.
With respect to all but the first item, the court upheld the EPA’s rule, on the grounds that it was not "arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law" – the standard of review for this type of case.
But the court agreed with the EDF that the agency’s rule "comes up short" on the requirement that companies substantiate that a confidential chemical identity is not "readily discoverable through reverse engineering".
As a result, the court has ordered the EPA to "address its arbitrary elimination" of substantiation questions regarding reverse engineering. But it otherwise denied the EDF’s petition for review.
Court’s position
Under the 2016 amendments to TSCA, the identity of a chemical substance can be withheld as confidential if four specific criteria are met.
In its ruling, the court noted that the original proposed inventory reset rule – floated under the Obama administration in 2017 – included more than twenty substantiation questions, including questions related to each of these four statutorily required assertions.
But by the agency’s own admission, the court’s decision says, the final rule sets forth an "extensively re-written" list, which scrapped all questions related to the requirement that a substance’s identity not be susceptible to reverse engineering.
And this omission, it says, "effectively excised a statutorily required criterion from the substantiation process," it said.
"The EPA’s rule offers no sensible explanation at all for that gap in substantiation, nor does it even acknowledge the consequence of its omission," it added. "That error is fatal."
Outside of this provision, however, the court generally gave the agency deference to how it had interpreted the statute.
For example, it said that the EPA "acted well within its discretion" in concluding that any manufacturer or processor of a chemical can file a claim to maintain confidentiality, regardless of whether that company was the original claimant.
‘Significant win’
Robert Stockman, EDF senior attorney, hailed the decision as a "significant win for public disclosure".
"EPA will now have to require significantly more evidence from companies before they can conceal the identities of chemicals they make and sell," Mr Stockman said.
"As a result, fewer such claims will be allowed."
But the American Chemistry Council’s deputy general counsel, Allison Starmann, said the group is "disappointed that some activist NGOs continue to consume the resources of the agency that could otherwise be dedicated to effective and efficient implementation of the law."
Ms Starmann said the ACC was pleased that the court denied the majority of the petitioner’s challenges, which she said is a "clear sign that EPA’s approach is consistent with the statute and congressional intent".Implications
The court’s decision will require the EPA to revisit its final notification rule through a formal notice and comment process. But the ruling also has implications for the agency’s recent proposed rule that lays out a procedure for substantiating and reviewing confidentiality claims under the reformed TSCA.
The proposal, like the inventory notification rule, does not include a substantiation question addressing reverse engineering. And the EDF’s Richard Denison told Chemical Watch that this is an omission that will need to be remedied, which he said should be done by re-proposing the rule.
Dr Denison also pointed out that there are companies that already provided CBI substantiation during the inventory notification process. And these, he said, will likely need to re-substantiate their claims, because the questions they responded to have been deemed inadequate by the court.
Also of note is that the court disagreed with the EPA’s arguments that the EDF did not have legal standing to bring the case. In order to meet this bar, the NGO had to "demonstrate that it has suffered a concrete and particularised injury in fact that is both fairly traceable to the EPA’s action and likely to be redressed by a favourable judicial decision".
To this end, the court said "the law is settled" that denial of access to information qualifies as an injury in fact. This interpretation may send encouraging signals to NGOs seeking to challenge other aspects of TSCA in court.
A spokesperson for the EPA said it is currently reviewing the DC Circuit’s decision and then will determine next steps.
https://chemicalwatch.com/76954/court-orders-us-epa-to-revisit-cbi-substantiation
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EPA, EDF Split Win in D.C. Circuit Fight Over Chemical Notification Rules
Apr 29, 2019 | Reuters
By Barbara Grzincic
The Environmental Defense Fund’s challenge to rules implementing the 2016 amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act met with mixed results on Friday, as a federal appeals court upheld most of the provisions adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia agreed with the EDF on just one of its five objections to the Inventory Notification Requirements rule, in which the Environmental Protection Agency spelled out its procedure for updating its outdated inventory of chemicals manufactured or processed in the United States.
To read the full story on Westlaw Practitioner Insights, click here: bit.ly/2WcbRNx
https://www.reuters.com/article/toxic-substance-lawsuit/epa-edf-split-win-in-dc-circuit-fight-over-chemical-notification-rules-idUSL1N22B0C0
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Senators Urge EPA to Extend Methylene Chloride Protection to Workers
Apr 29, 2019 | Chemical Watch
By Lisa Martine Jenkins
Twenty-two US Senate Democrats have written to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler and agency toxics head Alexandra Dunn, expressing concern at the decision to exclude commercial uses from the methylene chloride ban the agency announced in March. In the 26 April letter, the senators urge the agency to finalise a more comprehensive ban.
The move comes hot on the heels of a lawsuit jointly filed by five NGOs and two mothers whose sons died after using the substance.
Methylene chloride is a solvent commonly used in paint strippers. The EPA’s own 2014 assessment of the substance concluded that it can cause harm to the central nervous system, liver and kidney toxicity and cancer. Since a ban was proposed in January 2017, there have been a number of deaths associated with exposure to the substance.
The announcement that the final rule will not cover commercial uses resulted in protests from both Democratic lawmakers and NGOs.
Meanwhile, the EPA has looked for feedback on its advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) for a programme of "training, certification, and limited access requirements", aimed at mitigating the substance’s risk.
However, the senators – led by Chuck Schumer (D-New York), Tom Carper (D-Delaware) and Tom Udall (D-New Mexico) – write in their letter that the "failure to protect commercial users of methylene chloride in its ban is likely to lead to more illnesses and deaths that are entirely preventable".
They also argue that the methylene chloride rule flies in the face of the 2016 updates to TSCA, which specifically charges the agency with protecting "potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulations". They cite the EPA’s own determination that workers are particularly vulnerable to the substance’s risks, and encourage it to withdraw the ANPRM and finalise an across-the-board ban on the substance.
"Given the dozens of deaths of workers, among even those who had been properly equipped and trained to protect themselves against methylene chloride exposure, EPA’s failure to protect commercial users of methylene chloride in its ban is likely to lead to more illnesses and deaths that are entirely preventable," the letter continues.
The EPA will accept comments on the worker training ANPRM until 28 May.
https://chemicalwatch.com/76911/senators-urge-epa-to-extend-methylene-chloride-protection-to-workers
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Court Orders US EPA to Decide on Chlorpyrifos Ban
Apr 29, 2019 | Chemical & Engineering News
By BrittE. Erickson
The US Environmental Protection Agency must determine by mid-July whether to ban the organophosphate insecticide chlorpyrifos, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on April 19. The chemical has been linked to neurodevelopmental problems in children. The EPA under former president Barack Obama proposed banning all uses of chlorpyrifos. The Trump administration reversed the move, leading to the lawsuit by a coalition of environmental and farmworker groups. The court ruled last year that the EPA must finalize the ban. The EPA appealed that decision, which was made by a three-judge panel, and the court granted the agency a rehearing by the full circuit. “We commend the court for this ruling as it forces the EPA to stop stalling,” Patti Goldman, an attorney for Earthjustice, one of the plaintiffs in the case, says in a statement. “While we are moving forward, the tragedy is that children are being exposed to chlorpyrifos, a pesticide science has long shown is unsafe.” Chlorpyrifos is the only line of defense to target some pests on certain food crops, claim the US Department of Agriculture and farm groups, which are siding with the EPA in the case.
https://cen.acs.org/environment/pesticides/Court-orders-US-EPA-decide/97/i17
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Skin Contact Main Exposure Route for Flame Retardants in Furniture, Study Suggests
Apr 29, 2019 | Chemical Watch
By Dr Emma Davies
Human exposure to flame retardants in upholstered furniture comes mainly from skin contact, followed by ingestion and inhalation, according to a study at Emory University, US, published by safety science company Underwriters Laboratories (UL).
The tests also revealed that a proprietary ‘reactive’ (polymer integrated) flame retardant is not released in measurable levels from upholstered furniture during normal use, unlike traditional organophosphate flame retardants.
The novel chemical flame retardant technology chemically bonds to polyurethane foam during polymerisation and is "expected to reduce leaching or migration" from consumer products to the environment.
The report refers to public health professionals and consumers becoming "increasingly concerned" about human exposure to chemical flame retardants. "Early warnings of health risks from exposure to some flame retardants were not heeded, leading to decades of continued use, coinciding with increased presence in humans and adverse health effects," it suggests.
The researchers tested four sets of chairs with: no flame retardant added to the polyurethane foam (control); organophosphate chemical flame retardant added to the polyurethane foam, identified as triphenyl phosphate (TPhP) and tertbutyl phenyl phosphates (TBPP mix); a proprietary 'reactive' chemical flame retardant added to the polyurethane foam; orno flame retardant added to the polyurethane foam, but a fibreglass barrier material added between the polyurethane foam and textile cover.
They detected TBPP and TPhP in the air and settled dust around chairs with added organophosphate flame retardants. But they did not find any indication that the reactive flame retardant was released.
Average daily doses of TPhP released from the organophosphate flame retardant chair revealed that the most significant human pathway is dermal transfer, followed by ingestion and inhalation. Children would receive the highest exposure of TPhP flame retardant through ingestion, due to the primary exposure route of frequent hand-to-mouth contact with settled dust, suggest the researchers.
When they set fire to the chairs, they found that the barrier material had a "remarkable impact" on the burn parameters of the upholstered chair, whereas the flame retardants did not. The barrier was far more effective than the flame retardants at slowing burning, leading to lower levels of volatile organic chemicals and smoke being released, at a lower temperature.
https://chemicalwatch.com/76917/skin-contact-main-exposure-route-for-flame-retardants-in-furniture-study-suggests
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California Bill Could Erode Plans for New Oil, Gas Drilling
Apr 29, 2019 | Natural Gas Intelligence
By Richard Nemec
Curtailing or outright banning new oil and natural gas drilling in California is bubbling up as a back-burner public policy issue in the state capital, with proposed legislation that could impose a 2,500-foot setback for drilling.
Assembly Bill 345, which has passed the House Natural Resources Committee, is being championed by environmental groups, but it is a concern for producers. Colorado voters rejected a similar initiative last November.
Between 2007 and 2017, California oil production declined 28%, continuing a trend going back to the mid-1980s, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
More than 99% of all drilling permits issued in the state since 2011 have been for existing, historically developed oil and gas fields, the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) reported.
"It should be noted that based in part on input from environmental advocates, we recently have created or strengthened regulations related to a number of oilfield activities, such as well stimulation, underground gas storage, idle wells and underground injection," said DOGGR spokesman Don Drysdale.
The Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) and the California Independent Producers Association (CIPA) have had discussions with Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state officials, but they do not anticipate him supporting an outright ban on new drilling.
WSPA spokesperson Kara Greene told NGI’s Shale Daily that many groups are on record with comments about the proposed setback rule. CIPA CEO Rock Zierman said there is no science supporting the proposal, "considering that California already has the strongest environmental protections in the world." The proposal is "an end-run to stop production," and would kill jobs and eliminate tax revenues.
Zierman said continued moves to stop the state's oil production would be counter-productive, coming "under the strictest regulations on the planet, and that undermines climate goals, which can drive up consumer costs and increase dependence on foreign oil."
"When you say 'new' fossil fuel development here, it is a bit of a misnomer," Drysdale said. "There are parts of the state where longstanding oil operations are in close proximity to areas that have become heavily urbanized." It is in these urban settings that residents are seeking setback requirements or an end to new drilling, he said.
A statistic cited before a new well stimulation permit law was enacted estimated that 20% of the drilling in the state involved unconventional drilling, but Drysdale said that given the current ratio of about 600 drilling permits among the state's 72,000 producing wells, that estimate seemed "exceedingly high."
"What we can say is that most of the wells being stimulated are new and would not be able to produce” from the targeted formations without unconventional drilling methods, Drysdale said.
https://www.naturalgasintel.com/articles/118196-california-bill-could-erode-plans-for-new-oil-gas-drilling
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Fastest-Growing U.S. City Scrambling to Survive Shale Boom
Apr 29, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By David Wethe
In a state known for its oil-based booms and busts, Jerry Morales is convinced Midland, Texas, the unofficial capital of the Permian Shale Basin, has a chance to break from the pattern.
In the Permian, “we don’t say boom anymore,” according to Morales, who serves as mayor of the nation’s fastest growing city. “We’re very sustainable. The boom-and-bust era is over.“
What a difference a year can make. In 2018, Morales sat in the Mulberry Cafe in Midland and talked of a local economy that was “on fire” and out of control because of the oil boom. A year later, sitting in the same cafe, his message is decidedly different.
Midland is using a $100 million bond to fix overused roads, and accessing a $180 million regional fund from a new coalition of 20 drillers for other advances, he said. A $50 million water tower has been approved to serve expanding neighborhoods, and a $3 million animal adoption center is in the works for pets left homeless by apartment-dwelling oil workers.
Meanwhile, four drillers led by Chevron Corp. have funded a new childcare facility that opened last week.
“I don’t want Midland to be known as a big mancamp,” Morales said. “We are having to think outside the box and truly be urban planners, creating a city and an environment that’s inviting for everyone.“
The Permian rose from the dead with the advent of fracking a decade ago to become a market beast, producing about a third of U.S. oil as it grew to become one of the world’s most prolific oilfields.
In the process, though, local resources were stretched beyond their limits. Now, Morales and others say the region may be settling into adulthood. Employers still struggle to fill jobs in competition with the oilfields, roads are jammed, schools overflow and home prices are sky-high. But local leaders say they have plans and resources set to secure a long-term future.
The changes are coming as oil traders and shale executives believe U.S. crude exports -- driven by success in the Permian -- will reach 5 million barrels a day by late 2020, up about 60 percent from last year’s average. If that target is hit, America will be exporting, on a gross basis, more crude than any country in OPEC, except Saudi Arabia.
Even so, the drilling rig count in the Permian sits at almost the same level as a year ago, at 460, according to Baker Hughes. And the number of fracking crews working to complete drilled wells is down 8 percent, according to Primary Vision Inc., a Houston-based data firm.
Controlled Expansion
Analysts say the breakneck pace of drilling and no-holds-barred development that upended the Permian economy for much of the past decade is now mellowing as entrepreneurial explorers make way for corporate managers. Where wildcatters once ruled, Exxon and Chevron, America’s two biggest energy companies, are quickly becoming the faces of that controlled expansion.
Indeed, Chevron is now in a rare-in-the-industry bidding war with Occidental Petroleum Corp. to acquire Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and expand its influence in the region.
Although there’s probably still a lot of oil to be found, explorers finally have a good handle on where the richest zones lie, meaning there’s no longer a scramble to strike the next big discovery.
“We’re a well-established oilfield; we’re not an adolescent anymore,” said Wesley Burnett, who runs the economic development program for Odessa, 20 miles southwest of Midland. “There’s definitely been some realization of: ‘Man, we’ve got to do some things differently in order to get to that next level.’“
Tracee Bentley, a former aid to Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, is the chief executive officer of the 20-driller Permian Strategic Partnership, launched in November to help local communities deal with the added stress they bring. Among its members are Chevron Corp., Anadarko Petroleum Corp., ConocoPhillips and Apache Corp.
Strategic PartnershipThe partnership being forged between the oil companies and the local communities is unlike anything achieved elsewhere, Bentley said.
“We’re literally creating it as we go, which is fun and frightening all at the same time,” she said in an interview. “The amount of work can be daunting if you look at the basin as a whole. We really want the Permian to be a place that families call home.“
Susie Hitchcock-Hall, for one, is impressed by the changes so far.
Hitchcock-Hall, a longtime Midland-based candy maker dubbed the “Willy Wonka of West Texas,” owns a candy factory in Midland that can safely hold two busloads of children at a time, she said. A giant tin dish on one wall was once used to enter the Guinness World Records for the biggest piece of toffee ever made. It weighed 2,940 pounds.
The Permian of today has a different feel to it from the roller coaster rides of the past, she said, and she’s impressed the oil companies are chipping in. “They’ve pulled the big dogs in,” Hitchcock-Hall said. They have the “wherewithal, and they’re smart.“
Still, even as leaders like Morales hesitate to describe the region’s state as being a “boom,” there are boomtown reminders everywhere.
At Opal’s Table in downtown Midland, for instance, every seat was taken on a recent Wednesday night as diners noshed on $36 Seared Ahi Tuna Steak and sipped $14 Liquid Gold cocktails. Meanwhile, just outside, city of Midland-owned vehicles tooled around town with a sign on their door advertising “now hiring.“
The city’s unemployment rate was at 2.2 percent in February, compared with 3.8 percent nationally, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“We’re not going to make anybody move here,” said Mitch Jones, who manages the Permian Basin fracking business for BJ Services Inc., one of the biggest providers of completion services in the Permian. “Now if they choose to, well great. It definitely helps if they are local.“
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/fastest-growing-u-s-city-scrambling-to-survive-shale-boom
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Gas Drilling Taps Into Markets Beyond Energy
Apr 29, 2019 | Science Line
By Nina Pullano
Deep underground, the Earth holds vast power and possibility. Molecules of hydrogen and carbon arrange themselves in various combinations to form the fuel that heats our homes, cooks our food and lights our offices.
But you might have known that already; energy from natural gas dominates conversation about drilling into the rock formations beneath our feet. Much less discussed are natural gas liquids, hydrocarbons heavier than the methane that powers our lives. Yet you use NGLs every day when you load the dishwasher, take an aspirin or pull on a polyester sweater.
That’s because NGLs, rather than being used as fuel, are building blocks for plastics, detergents, fertilizers and a number of other products.
And they’re on the rise. The amount of NGLs produced each day in the United States nearly doubled between 2010 and 2017. Because NGLs rely on a market of their own, recent efforts to push the U.S. toward renewable energy likely won’t slow down drilling for them — in fact, the liquids are far more profitable than natural gas drilling alone.
That worries clean-energy advocates, who say drilling contributes to health problems and climate change, because it suggests NGLs could drive gas processing for decades to come.
Understanding NGLs requires looking back to before their surge, says Dan Kish, a senior fellow at the Institute for Energy Research, an energy market analysis group. A dozen years ago, companies in the U.S. were “literally dismantling petrochemical plants” because natural gas was so expensive, and in such short supply, that producing chemicals from NGLs didn’t seem profitable, Kish says. “That was the future we were looking at.”
Then came the rise of fracking and horizontal drilling. Though the techniques weren’t new, gas producers began combining them in the mid-2000s to extract more NGLs, which are harder to reach than methane. The latter has smaller molecules and migrates through tiny cracks in rock formations, while NGLs tend to pool and remain locked underground. With fracking, producers split open rock to access NGLs, while they use horizontal drilling to tap into NGL-rich layers of rock. RELATED POSTSNatural gas expandsASHLEY TAYLOR • NOVEMBER 3, 2011Natural gas versus natural beautyRYAN F. MANDELBAUM • MAY 2, 2016
Those techniques, as well as targeting areas with more NGLs — like shale rock in the Appalachian Basin, Marcellus Shale in the Eastern U.S. and the Permian Basin in the Southwest — have fed a now-flourishing natural gas business, Kish explains. “Today, if it weren’t for the natural gas liquids being produced in Pennsylvania that are coming out of the Marcellus, they wouldn’t be operating the wells,” he says. “It’s like finding gold.”
The trouble is, that “gold” can cause significant environmental and health hazards, says Seth Shonkoff, executive director of Physicians, Scientists, and Engineers for Healthy Energy, an energy science and policy institute. In a recent study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, for example, Colorado researchers found an increased risk of brain, blood and developmental problems in people breathing air pollutants from oil and gas facilities. They also found a cancer risk of 8 per 10,000 people, which is eight times what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency typically considers acceptable.
Natural gas drilling, on the whole, “almost always has an air pollution footprint,” Shonkoff says. “If there are people nearby or downwind, there’s the potential for exposure.” Moving toward renewable energy could help reduce that risk, Shonkoff says, but NGLs are a force of their own. “These are intricately intertwined industries with the oil and gas industries, but they are in and of themselves somewhat separate from the energy side of the equation,” he says. That means even if the U.S. reduces its fossil fuel dependency, natural gas producers are likely to stay in business by selling NGLs to manufacturers of plastics and other products. Any health risks to producers’ neighbors, then, would continue.
In addition to being toxic when inhaled, NGLs are volatile organic compounds that contribute to smog — a health risk that scientists say will increase with climate change. In the Northern Hemisphere, atmospheric concentrations of NGLs began to increase in 2009 — as production began to pick up — despite levels decreasing during the 30 years prior, according to the Congressional Research Service. Yet the Environmental Protection Agency under Pres. Donald Trump has proposed loosening regulations meant to rein in emissions of these smog-causing compounds. And, meanwhile, natural gas production — and distribution — leaks methane, a powerful short-lived climate pollutant that contributes to global warming.
Compounding the risks of NGLs’ rise is that the industry seems to have no shortage of places to sell. The U.S. produces about one-third of the world’s supply of NGLs, says Warren Wilczewski, an industry economist at the U.S. Energy Information Administration. “We are the Saudi Arabia, and Russia — and, in fact, all of OPEC combined — in terms of the heft that we represent relative to the rest of the world.”
Direct pipelines make shipping to Canada easy, Wilczewski says, making that country the U.S.’s biggest customer, receiving 18% of U.S. NGL exports. Next in line are Japan and China, which receive 16% and 11% of exports, respectively. In those countries, NGLs are used largely to feed the petrochemical industry, which produces plastics, paints, rubber, fertilizers, detergents, dyes and textiles.
With new techniques and a global market, NGLs are more valuable than ever to producers. The EIA predicts NGL production will increase by 32% by the year 2050, far outpacing the overall increase in natural gas. Shonkoff, though, thinks those numbers may be overblown. “EIA tends to have a pretty rosy picture of the resource potential here,” he says. “There’s a lot of indication that [NGLs] are going to start to decline rather than increase.” That’s mostly due to “sweet spots,” where gas is NGL-rich, which don’t necessarily characterize entire formations, Shonkoff says. The EIA has modified projections in the past — Shonkoff points to when the agency reduced its previous estimate of California’s Monterey Shale’s productivity by 96% in 2014.
Wilczewski says increased gas production has helped the EIA understand rock and resource imbalance, and that the agency can more accurately predict shale potential now. But he acknowledges that the EIA could still modify its current projections. “Predictions can always change,” he says, and changes in gas prices or energy policy could play a role. The global NGL market is subject to international politics, so “uncertainty is something we need to accept.”
And even if the market for NGLs continues unabated, shifting to renewable sources of power will at least reduce overall gas emissions that threaten neighbors’ health and spur climate change.
“From a climate perspective, it is good to move away from the use of natural gas or methane for power and towards lower-emitting sets of technologies,” Shonkoff says. “But even if you transition to cleaner forms of energy in the energy sector, there could still be a market for natural gas liquids.”
https://scienceline.org/2019/04/gas-drilling-taps-into-markets-beyond-energy/
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How Linda Garcia Risked Everything To Keep Big Oil Out Of Her Community
Apr 29, 2019 | Huffington Post
By Nina Lakhani
Every time Linda Garcia’s cellphone pings, she wonders if it will be another death threat. The environmental activist has been targeted by anonymous callers for five years since taking on Big Oil to save her community from environmental devastation.
Garcia lives in Fruit Valley, the kind of close-knit place where everybody knows everybody. The low-income community in Vancouver, Washington, sits just across the river from Portland, Oregon, and is home to a thousand households. It also has a severe air pollution problem. In 2013, when Garcia, 51, first heard of a plan to put a massive fossil fuel transportation hub on the edge of her neighborhood, Fruit Valley was suffering the worst air quality in the city. Parents were regularly warned to keep children indoors to protect them from the dark industrial smog that descended across the river.
Concerned about how the new development might exacerbate the problems, Garcia, who was secretary of the Fruit Valley Neighborhood Association, started asking questions. She was skeptical of dubious claims being made by executives from Texas-headquartered oil company Tesoro (as it was then called) and elected officials about impressive job creation and minimal environmental risks.
“They made it sound amazing ― jobs, jobs, jobs ― which in a low-income community like Fruit Valley that was still recovering from the recession sounded great. … But most of it turned out to be slick PR,” Garcia told HuffPost.
The deeper Garcia dug, the bleaker it looked: She believed the mega-terminal would have devastating consequences ― health, environmental and social ― for the community and across the region.
The project would be North America’s largest oil terminal. The plan was to transport up to 11 million gallons of oil every day halfway across the country on mile-and-a-half-long trains from fracking fields in North Dakota through the Columbia River to the industrial Port of Vancouver, where the proposed terminal would be located less than a mile from most Fruit Valley residents. The oil would then be loaded onto ocean tankers at the terminal and shipped to Asia, where rapidly rising energy demands are enticing U.S. fossil fuel companies.
The oil company’s environmental and safety track record rang alarm bells for Garcia, especially the death of seven workers at one of its refineries in nearby Anacortes in 2010. In 2016, as the community continued its fight, the Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency fined Tesoro $10.4 million for air pollution violations relating to six refineries and $720,000 for alleged safety breaches at Anacortes refinery.
The more Garcia chipped away at the project’s marketing veneer, the more worried she got, which motivated her to organize the community to oppose the oil giant and forestall environmental devastation. Over the course of her long campaign against the terminal, she kept up the momentum ― despite multiple death threats that continue even today. “I didn’t give up, I’m not backing down. I am doing the right thing, that’s who I am,” she said.
Six years later, the Tesoro-Savage terminal is dead in the water and Garcia is the recipient of one of the world’s most prestigious environmental awards.
It was her steely determination that stood out to the committee, which awards the annual Goldman Environmental Prize to six grassroots environmentalists, one from each inhabited continent, in recognition of their leadership and efforts to protect the natural environment at significant personal cost. (This year’s other winners come from Chile, Liberia, North Macedonia, Cook Islands and Mongolia.)
“Despite personal risks, political and legal obstacles in her path, and challenges with her own health, Linda demonstrated steady leadership throughout a long campaign ― and didn’t stop until the terminal was defeated,” said Goldman prize spokesman Ilan Kayatsky.
Garcia was relentless. Through the neighborhood association, she met with company and council officials, and organized public meetings to share information with friends, neighbors and local businesses about the terminal.
She also works with the Washington Environmental Council ― a nonprofit that focuses on sustainability and climate action throughout Washington state ― which helped her garner support from outside environmental groups like Columbia Riverkeeper and the Sierra Club. As the community got educated and organized, the company stopped turning up at public meetings.
In response, the community got political, voting out two of the three elected port authority commissioners who had twice voted for the mega-terminal despite widespread public opposition and growing concerns about safety.
Garcia testified as a community witness at public hearings and city council meetings, using general safety reports published by the federal agency PHMSA (Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration) and experience from similar projects to argue that the daily procession of rail and river traffic would threaten fish and wildlife species, and cause harmful air and water emissions damaging to human health.
The community was also deeply concerned about the risk of accidents and spills especially following the Lac-Megantic disaster in Quebec in July 2013, when a 14-car oil train derailed and killed 47 people in a fiery explosion. And in June 2016, as the battle heated up, a Union Pacific train carrying 3 million gallons of oil derailed in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area in Oregon ― the same area the Tesoro-Savage railway would pass through.
The company accused activists of using “scare tactics,” claiming the trains would be safe and the project would bring jobs and economic growth to the community.
As Garcia gained prominence as a key leader in the community resistance, the death threats started. In addition, she suffered a life-threatening illness during the campaign and would often travel directly from chemotherapy to council meetings to testify on behalf of Fruit Valley residents.
“I was fighting for my own life and the lives of others. … I knew that the second the terminal went online we’d be living with 24/7 toxic fumes that would exacerbate or cause conditions people could die from,” she said. “This kept me motivated.”This New WorldThe current capitalist system is broken. Get updates on our progress toward building a fairer world.
Garcia and the other campaigners convinced the city council to appeal the project at the state level, and in late 2017, the Washington Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (the state agency responsible for sanctioning new projects) recommended against the oil terminal on the grounds it posed significant, unavoidable harm to the environment and community. In January 2018, Gov. Jay Inslee (D) denied the necessary permits. It was over, Fruit Valley had defeated big oil.
Fruit Valley’s triumphant resistance was remarkable, but not isolated.
The Pacific Northwest, a politically progressive region that identifies strongly with the environmental movement, has for almost a decade been under siege by the fossil fuel industry as it eyes the lucrative Asian energy market.
The plan of energy companies was to turn the picturesque Pacific Northwest into a fossil fuel highway for the next 50 years by expanding refineries and building terminals, trains and pipelines to transport millions of tons of coal (from the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming), oil (extracted by fracking in North Dakota), liquefied natural gas (from the Montney Formation in western Canada) and petrochemicals.
In total, 30 or so infrastructure projects were destined for communities in the region, including federally protected Indian tribal territories. If constructed, the combined capacity could be at least five times greater than the massive (and massively maligned) Keystone XL pipeline, according to analysis by Sightline Institute, a sustainability and energy think-tank, bringing huge pollution and climate implications.
But the region’s response was to unite. The coordinated opposition movement, known as the Thin Green Line, has beaten back all but four of the proposed projects (two relatively small expansion projects were sanctioned; two other battles are ongoing).
The unity took work. At first, communities and tribes took on the projects individually, until it became clear that the threat was regional, said Eric de Place, a researcher at Sightline Institute, which coined the term “Thin Green Line” to describe the commonality of the threats. Local and state organizations ― including Garcia’s Washington Environmental Council ― formed a coalition that spearheaded three campaigns: Power Past Coal, Stand Up to Oil, and Power Past Fracked Gas. GOLDMAN ENVIRONMENTAL FOUNDATIONGarcia at her home in Vancouver, Washington.
“Regional coordination stopped the industry being able to pit communities against each other, as together our negotiating bottom line was no, not one ton, not one community, just no,” de Place said.
The coalition pooled resources to investigate the economic, environmental and safety risks, which in turn helped persuade diverse sectors including tourism and commerce that it was in their interest to resist the fossil fuel corridor. Together, they turned out thousands of people to every public meeting, in every community, to take on the company executives and local officials.
“It was aggressive activism,” said de Place. “Our hard-line stance made it clear to elected officials that this was a binary issue and taking any money from coal or oil would be a political death sentence. This might not work everywhere, but it worked here.”
It’s noteworthy that the Pacific Northwest’s coordinated resistance has targeted transport and infrastructure projects, not the actual oil fields and coal mines. By disrupting the only economically viable transport options, they have made the intended extraction of millions of tons of coal economically unviable. “Find the weakest point in the supply chain, and go after it, that’s what we showed was possible,” said de Place.
The region’s opposition strategies and successes have served as rallying points for the larger climate movement and “keep it in the ground” campaign (which advocates against further fossil fuel burning), said Hilary Boudet, associate professor of sociology at Oregon State University’s School of Public Policy.
But, she warned, with huge profits at stake, Big Oil isn’t giving up. “A proposal’s defeat in one location doesn’t necessarily mean that fossil fuel export won’t happen somewhere else. ... The Trump administration has been very vocal about its policy of ‘energy dominance,’ which includes fossil fuel export,” Boudet said. Local and state-level politics are crucial to opposing this, she added.
As Garcia’s personal story shows, things can get ugly. At times, community leaders, especially tribal leaders, have been attacked as anti-development, anti-jobs, even anti-American for trying to protect their corner of the planet. But staying united has been their key to prevailing.
Garcia said: “There’s a tremendous sense of responsibility in our communities to take care of the planet so that it can be passed on to our children, and their children. We need more people to speak out, stand up and form armies of resistance.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/goldman-environmental-prize-oil-linda-garcia_n_5cc1a56fe4b01b6b3efd65e1
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US Chemical Safety Board Urges Review of Hydrofluoric Acid Regulations
Apr 29, 2019 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Jeff Johnson
The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board has called on the US Environmental Protection Agency to review its regulation of hydrofluoric acid. One-third of the nation’s 150 petrochemical refineries use HF to produce high-octane gasoline. The CSB’s April 24 statement urges the EPA to reexamine and update a 1993 study to determine the effectiveness of existing risk management program requirements as well as the viability of using inherently safer alkylation technologies in refineries. “In the last 4 years, the CSB has investigated two refinery incidents where an explosion elevated the threat of a release of HF,” CSB interim executive Kristen Kulinowski says. “Refinery workers and surrounding community residents are rightly concerned about the adequacy of risk management for the use of hazardous chemicals like HF.” HF is a highly toxic chemical that can seriously injure or cause death at concentrations as low as 30 ppm, the CSB says. The CSB’s recommendation follows its accident investigations at an ExxonMobil refinery in California and a Husky Energy refinery in Wisconsin. After the California accident, the South Coast Air Quality Management District began examining HF regulations and alternatives. That effort is ongoing, a South Coast AQMD spokesperson says. EPA officials say it is reviewing the CSB’s request.
https://cen.acs.org/safety/industrial-safety/US-Chemical-Safety-Board-urges/97/i17
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ExxonMobil Pipeline Settles Yellowstone River Spill Claims
Apr 29, 2019 | BNA Daily Evironment Report
By Peter Hayes
ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. will pay a $1 million civil penalty to resolve Clean Water Act allegations stemming from a crude oil spill from its Silvertip Pipeline into the Yellowstone River and shoreline.
The consent decree filed April 26 resolves the civil penalty and injunctive relief claims of the U.S. for the violations alleged in the complaint filed the same day.
The company has complied in addressing the contamination, has reimbursed approximately $1,602,639 of Natural Resource Damage Assessment Costs incurred by federal and state Natural Resource Trustees, and has paid $12 million to fund restoration projects.
In addition, the company has paid a $1,045,000 civil penalty assessed by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration for alleged violations of PHMSA regulations.
The Silvertip Pipeline transports crude oil from the Silvertip Station near Elk Basin, Wyo., to the ExxonMobil Refinery in Billings, Mont.
On July 1, 2011, a discharge of more than 1,500 barrels from the pipeline flowed down the Yellowstone River and entered tributaries, wetlands, and riparian areas, including over 9,000 acres of riverfront, according to the complaint..
Approximately 140 people were evacuated from their homes in the early morning hours of July 2, due to the potentially hazardous conditions caused by the discharge.
The discharged oil deposited a sludge beneath the surface of the water and on adjoining shorelines, and violated water quality standards, the complaint alleges.
By July 3, discharged oil had migrated 240 miles downstream, according to the complaint.
The case is United States v. ExxonMobil Pipeline Co., D. Mont., No. 19-cv-00048, 4/26/19.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/exxonmobil-pipeline-settles-yellowstone-river-spill-claims
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Ewire: Paris Bill, Infrastructure on Agenda as Congress Returns
Apr 29, 2019 | Inside EPA
Congress is back in session today after a two-week break, with Democratic leaders poised to meet with President Donald Trump to discuss the prospects for major infrastructure legislation, while the House will consider a leadership-backed bill that would block Trump's pledge to leave the Paris Agreement.
Trump's on April 30 will talk infrastructure investment with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), though sources are suggesting that the confab will not produce a top-line spending figure or ways to offset new spending, according to an Axios preview.
The story notes that Trump is actually more aligned with Democrats' calls to spend major federal money on new projects, as opposed to the GOP's reliance on public-private partnerships and reducing permitting burdens.
Inside EPA has reported that lawmakers appear focused on moving a highway infrastructure bill first, given that existing transportation funding expires in September 2020. Bills addressing water, energy and other projects would come in a second phase.
Even so, Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) has said Democrats are committed to “weaving green strands into any infrastructure bill,” by boosting consideration of climate and environment issues.
Before the White House infrastructure meeting gets underway, the House Rules Committee is set to consider Democrats' Paris legislation late April 29, including scores of amendments that have been submitted.
The bill, H.R. 9, could see floor action May 1, according to multiple reports. The measure would block Trump's pledge to leave the Paris deal and require the administration to submit a plan for the United States to achieve the Obama administration's Paris target of reducing greenhouse gases 26-28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.
While the measure faces an uphill battle in the GOP-controlled Senate and likely opposition from the White House, Democrats say it is an opportunity to force Republican lawmakers to develop their own strategy to tackle climate change.
Republicans have been “telling us how they're really serious about climate and how much they would like to see innovation,” said House Energy & Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) at an April 4 markup. “We're going to give them a chance to show that they're serious about climate change and innovation. We're asking Republicans and Trump, essentially, what's your plan?”
https://insideepa.com/daily-feed/ewire-paris-bill-infrastructure-agenda-congress-returns
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House GOP Starts Uphill Push This Week for Green New Deal Vote
Apr 29, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Tiffany Stecker
House Republicans will begin an effort April 30 to collect signatures to bring the Green New Deal resolution for a floor vote, according to House Minority Whip Steve Scalise’s (R-La.) office.
The discharge petition, led by Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.), will require 218 signatures for leadership to bypass the committee process and take up the measure for a vote, Scalise spokeswoman Lauren Fine said in an email. For it to move forward, at least 21 Democrats would need to sign the petition alongside all House Republicans—an unlikely feat.
The Green New Deal resolution (H.Res. 109) was introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) in February and has 92 Democratic cosponsors.
Republicans want the House to vote on the Green New Deal resolution to get lawmakers’ support or opposition on the record.
“The American people deserve to know where their Member of Congress stand on such a radical policy,” Hice said on Twitter in February.
Democrats, however, say the move is intended only to score political points. Many of them say broadly addressing a subject as complicated as climate change deserves a more deliberative debate.
The Senate voted 0-57 against a similar resolution from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) March 26, with 43 Democrats voting “present.” All Republicans voted against it, with three Democrats—Doug Jones of Alabama, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona— and Independent Sen. Angus King joining the GOP.
The GOP’s move comes as Democrats move H.R. 9, a bill to force the Trump administration to remain in the international Paris agreement, to the floor this week.
The GOP has criticized the Green New Deal measure because it calls for large-scale government intervention in the energy sector. The resolution lays out a plan to phase out fossil fuel emissions over the next decade.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/house-gop-starts-uphill-push-this-week-for-green-new-deal-vote
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House Democrats Tee Up Bill to Keep U.S. in Paris Climate Deal
Apr 29, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Dean Scott
House Democrats plan to deliver a message to President Donald Trump this week: At least one chamber in Congress wants the U.S. to stay in the 2015 Paris climate accord.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) plans to make a bill that would call for keeping the U.S. in the pact (H.R. 9) the first priority for floor action as Congress returns from a two-week recess. House leadership hopes to start floor debate on May 1.
The bill has little chance of moving in the Republican-controlled Senate. But House Democratic leaders hope it can unite their caucus around climate in a way that the ambitious Green New Deal (H.Res.109) resolution hasn’t.
Staying in the Paris Agreement enjoys widespread Democratic support; the Green New Deal is championed mainly by progressives and hasn’t earned the endorsement of House Democratic leaders.
Introduced by Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), H.R. 9 would direct Trump to draw up a plan to fulfill the U.S. pledge to address its greenhouse gas emissions under the same climate deal Trump wants the U.S. to abandon.
Castor chairs the new House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, launched by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to highlight climate change impacts and potential policies for addressing them.
Castor’s legislation has to first make an April 29 stop before the House Rules Committee, whose members will sift through 82 amendments submitted on the bill. The committee is only expected to clear a portion of those for debate and votes on the floor.
Among the amendments are several from select climate committee members:
-Four amendments by the ranking Republican on the climate panel, Rep. Garret Graves (La.), would require any plan developed by Trump to detail the role that natural gas as well as carbon capture and storage would play in domestic and global emissions reductions.-Six amendments by Rep. Harley Rouda (D-Calif.), including one that would bar the Trump administration from using any funding to advance U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.
-An amendment by Rep. Carol Miller (R-W.Va.) proposing that the legislation include findings that emphasize the importance of the fossil fuels industry to the American economy, future power generation, national security, and U.S. jobs.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/house-democrats-tee-up-bill-to-keep-u-s-in-paris-climate-deal
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Democrats Say EPA Stonewalling Their Oversight Efforts
Apr 29, 2019 | Politico Pro
By Anthony Adragna
Congressional Democrats say EPA is slow-walking their oversight demands even more under Administrator Andrew Wheeler than his scandal-tarred predecessor Scott Pruitt.
Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, has not received a “complete or adequate response” from EPA in more than a year and heard nothing from the agency on any of the 10 letters he’s sent since Wheeler first became acting administrator in July 2018, according to a spokesperson. Similar complaints are popping up across the Capitol where the Democratic-led House Energy and Commerce Committee says the lack of transparency is as bad as under Pruitt's tenure.
The Democratic frustration comes as the Trump administration has amplified its stonewalling of other Democratic oversight requests concerning a wide variety of matters, including the president's tax returns, White House security clearances, questions over the U.S. Census and testimony from former White House Counsel Don McGahn.
“I would say that Scott Pruitt’s scandal-ridden administration at EPA should not serve as the baseline for success on any issue, but the sad truth is that EPA has actually been less responsive to Democrats’ oversight requests since the time Administrator Wheeler became acting administrator,” Carper said in a statement to POLITICO. “I had hoped that Administrator Wheeler would be more receptive and responsive to Congressional oversight than his predecessor, and work earnestly to restore trust, communication and accountability both within the agency and between EPA and Congress.”
Among the letters Democrats say they’ve received “zero response” to are ones seeking information on potential political meddling in a health assessment linking the chemical formaldehyde with cancer, the dismissal of scientists from an agency’s clean air advisory group, details on the amount of taxpayer funding spent in court cases defending actions taken under Pruitt, documentsthat informed the agency’s criticism of the congressionally-mandated Fourth National Climate Assessment, the interagency review of EPA’s national PFAS action plan, and the agency’s proposed freezing of fuel economy standards for cars.
EPA pushed back on Carper’s statement, claiming it had provided EPW Democrats with more than 25,000 pages of documents and continues to do so. It further said it is providing technical assistance on legislative efforts.
“With the information provided to the minority staff, EPA has been exceedingly responsive and more than ‘adequate’ as the Agency has made officials available for testimonies, briefings, and phone calls,” said Michael Abboud, an EPA spokesperson, in a statement. “Unfortunately, Ranking Member Carper chooses to air their exaggerated claims and complaints to the media when many of these issues have not been raised to the Agency through the proper channels, though they have had ample opportunity to do so.”
An EPW Democratic spokesperson said sending over records the agency deems "pertinent" does not equate to "actually answering the questions asked or providing the documents requested." The spokesperson further said making officials available in response to oversight is “EPA’s responsibility — not some kind of commendable endeavor.”
Similar complaints have emerged in the House, where Democrats' majority gives them subpoena power that Carper lacks.
The House Oversight Committee has already warned it would consider subpoenaing Wheeler if he failed to provide documents related to a biofuels client he failed to disclose in his financial reports by the end of the month. The committee originally sought those documents in February.
At the Energy and Commerce Committee, Democrats say they too have struggled to receive adequate responses to their oversight requests, though have not yet given any indication they're pondering subpoenas of their own.
“The EPA under Administrator Wheeler continues to slow walk requests and fails to substantively respond to committee inquiries,” said a panel spokesperson. “The agency’s lack of transparency remains as serious a concern as ever.”
The committee says it has received no response to a December 2018 request for data on PFAS chemicals led by Environment and Climate Change Chairman Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) and a response that “did not substantively answer” a late January letter seeking information on potential actions from political appointees to block the release of a PFAS hazard study.
In addition, EPA provided “mostly unresponsive and redacted documents” in “partial responses” to a February letter seeking a wide range of materials related to rollbacks of Obama-era power plant, fuel economy and methane emissions regulations, according to a committee spokesperson. The agency did provide a briefing but “several requests remain outstanding,” according to the aide.
In response to E&C, Abboud said EPA had provided “substantive responses” to all six of their oversight letters this Congress, four briefings with senior officials and nearly 7,000 pages of documents to date. He said the agency planned five additional briefings for the next month and continues to hold discussions each week on various oversight and technical assistance issues.
“EPA has been responsive to requests from the Senate and House Democrats, any assertion otherwise is false,” Abboud said in a statement.
As a longtime Senate staffer and former EPA official, Wheeler gave Democrats hope that he would show greater deference to oversight requests. He has respected other Washington routines like making the rounds for budget hearings and incorporating career staff into meetings as rules make their way through the regulatory process.
But former EPA staff still in contact with current employees argue those are mere stylistic changes. Critics and backers of Wheeler alike see little daylight between his and Pruitt’s deregulatory agenda that’s prioritized the rolling back of regulations governing the Clean Water Act’s jurisdiction, mercury emissions from power plants and fuel economy standards.
And EPA veterans say Wheeler is not listening to career staff even as he allows them in the same room.
“He’s made the decision that as part of this administration he’s going to do whatever the political donors to the Trump administration request him to do,” said Betsy Southerland, a long-time career EPA staffer still in touch with current employees. “The process seems to be more open in terms of including career staff in meetings but the end result is no different at all.”
Wheeler’s extensive experience with the regulatory process at least ensures he’ll probably get final versions of his top-tier regulations released, even if they face a less-than-certain path in the courts. Republicans say they welcome his low-key style compared to his predecessor.
“Pruitt comes in carrying a backpack of 110 pounds through his own personal decisions. Wheeler does not,” Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), a senior Energy and Commerce Committee Republican, said. “Since I think my [Democratic] friends would like to have a more combative witness, I think he’s more successful for the EPA in telling their story versus having someone that can focus on their personal decisions and kind of weave a corruption story based upon other things.”
https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2019/04/democrats-say-epa-stonewalling-their-oversight-efforts-1385681
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New York Lawmakers Set to Vote on ‘Green’ Constitutional Amendment
Apr 29, 2019 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Keshia Clukey
New York could become the third state to add the right to clean air, clean water and a “healthful” environment to its constitution.
Lawmakers coming back from a mid-session break are expected to vote this week on the environmental rights bill (A.2064, S.2072), said state Environmental Conservation Committee Chairmen Sen. Todd Kaminsky (D) and Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D).
The measure has wide support among lawmakers in both houses, Kaminsky said. But a state business group has raised concerns about it.
Passage of the bill would be the first step in a years-long process to add what’s known as the “Green Amendment” to the state’s Bill of Rights, which lawmakers and advocacy groups say would provide further avenues for redress and factor protections into future legislative and economic decision making.
“We have to do everything we can to mitigate the effect of climate change and we have to make sure that we’re considering the environment,” said state Sen. David Carlucci (D), the bill’s Senate sponsor.
“We have things [in the state constitution] as simple as allowing people to play bingo, the citing of casino games, but yet we don’t have the right to clean air and clean water,” he said. “In this day and age, it’s important that we set the constitution right by making sure that these protections are included.”
Montana, Pennsylvania Passed in ‘70s
More than 40 states address environmental values in their constitutions, but only Montana and Pennsylvania have a full “Green Amendment,” setting them as inalienable rights. The two states passed the legislation in the 1970s.
Once approved in both New York chambers, the measure must come up for a second vote by an independently elected Legislature in 2021 and could then be placed on the ballot to go before voters in fall 2021. The legislative session typically runs January through June.
“It might have the effect, and I hope it does, of giving pause and perhaps even preventing those who have mischief on their mind regarding pollution that might have negative health consequences for our citizens,” Englebright, the bill’s Assembly sponsor, said.
Business Concerns, Consequences
While the proposal has the support of both national and state environmental groups, businesses in New York are concerned about the potential consequences of what they say is an ambiguously worded measure: “Each person shall have a right to clean air and water, and a healthful environment.”
That statement is “really hard to define,” said Darren Suarez, senior director of government affairs at the Business Council of New York State.
The amendment could lead to increased litigation, and could undermine any previous agreements individual companies had with the state, Suarez said.
“I do think if enacted, this will lead people to certainly be very hesitant to buy properties that had an industrial legacy or properties where there was even just another facility on it beforehand. The potential exposure for liability will be significant,” he said.
The Business Council also argued that environmental protections already are set out in state and federal laws and regulations, and that there are existing avenues to seek legal recourse.
“Passage is only half the battle because the legal meaning, at least of the Pennsylvania environmental amendment, wasn’t clear until the court started interpreting the meaning of the provision,” said Joshua C. Macey, a postdoctoral associate at Cornell Law School whose specialties include environmental law. Interpretation of New York’s constitutional amendment would rely “almost exclusively” on judicial interpretation, Macey said.
The real benefit would be for individual landowners and local communities suffering from environmental harm, as they’d have more authority to bring claims in court, Macey said. And putting the measure in the constitution makes it harder to appeal, he said.
Paving the Way for Other States
The legislation’s passage in New York could pave the way for other states to join the national movement at a time when the federal government is rolling back environmental protections and funding, said Maya K. van Rossum, an environmental attorney, Delaware Riverkeeper and author of “The Green Amendment: Securing Our Right to a Healthy Environment.”
“It would set an important precedent,” van Rossum told Bloomberg Environment. “It would be inspirational.”
Similar amendments have been introduced in Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia.
https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/new-york-lawmakers-set-to-vote-on-green-constitutional-amendment
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Los Angeles Just Announced Its Own Green New Deal to Drastically Slash Emissions
Apr 29, 2019 | Fast Company
By Adele Peters
While Congress talks about the Green New Deal, a version of it is already underway in L.A. The city may be known for its gridlock and smog, but it also has an ambitious plan to transform itself to tackle climate change. Today, the city announced how it’s accelerating its plans, moving to renewable energy, emissions-free buildings and vehicles, and reducing its water use—all while creating green jobs for its low-income communities.
“I don’t think there’s anything radical about creating a cleaner future for our grandchildren,” Mayor Eric Garcetti says on a call announcing the plan. “I hope that what we’re doing in LA will serve as a ‘greenprint’ for every city in the country and across the world. When we take a stand, it doesn’t matter that the president wants to boost fossil fuel production because most of America will already have been moving to a low carbon green energy world.”
100% RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY
By 2025, L.A. plans to run on 55% renewable electricity and stop using coal power entirely. Instead of repairing three natural gas power plants along the coast, it will shut them down. By 2036, it will get to 80% renewables. By 2045, like the rest of California, it will run on 100% renewables. (The 2028 Olympics will also run on 100% clean power.) Community solar programs will help low-income households and renters get solar panels. The city’s deadlines for ramping up clean power have accelerated based on “an understanding of the severity of the threat and the pace at which we need to move, but also [an understanding] that the technology is there,” says Lauren Faber O’Connor, chief sustainability officer for the City of Los Angeles. “These opportunities to have a smarter, more flexible, and cleaner grid have never been more plentiful.”
NET ZERO CARBON BUILDINGS
As in New York City, which recently announced plans to shrink the carbon footprint of its skyscrapers, Los Angeles’s largest source of emissions isn’t cars but residential and commercial buildings. By 2030, all new buildings in the city will have to be emissions-free. By 2050, every existing building will have to be retrofitted to meet the same goal. The city is also pioneering new construction methods, as the first large city to require all-electric construction equipment on city buildings. “We have to demand the most aggressive emissions reductions coming from our buildings,” says O’Connor.
ZERO EMISSIONS TRANSPORTATION
Right now, most Angelenos commute to work as the sole occupant of a car. Last year, each one spent an average of 128 hours stuck in traffic. L.A. wants to get more commuters into public transit and is expanding its subway and metro lines to help, along with building new housing next to transit centers. Garcetti says that his administration has paved more streets than any in LA’s history, but “who cares about potholes if Venice is underwater.” The city is also building the infrastructure to help people who keep driving make the switch to electric cars—including 25,000 new electric charging stations by 2025. Crosswalks and routes to walk to school will become safer. To make it easier to walk in hot weather, the city is planting shade trees and adding cool pavements. The network of bike lanes and bike sharing will expand. School buses and taxis will reach zero emissions by 2028; urban delivery vehicles will reach that goal by 2035. By 2050, every vehicle in the city will have zero emissions.
REDUCING RELIANCE ON IMPORTED WATER
More than a century ago, L.A. essentially stole water from the Owens Valley 200 miles away. The city also relies on water from Northern California and the Colorado River. Now, however, it wants to begin to source the majority of its water locally. Rain that typically flows over pavement and into storm drains will be captured through a “sponge city” design of permeable pavement and rain gardens. All wastewater will be recycled by 2035. As drought becomes more likely, the city will also continue to cut water use.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
As L.A. transforms, the city is focusing particularly on the poorest communities, which have been hardest hit by environmental problems like air pollution in the past. Several projects will directly impact neighborhoods—cutting emissions from ships at the ports, for example, is helping reduce childhood asthma rates in Long Beach. In Watts, the Jordan Downs public housing project is being rebuilt into an affordable community with electric car sharing, solar power, new bike lanes, thousands of new trees, and 50 small urban farms.
The city’s plans encompass multiple other sustainability goals, including zero waste going to landfills by 2050, planting 90,000 new trees, adding multiple new parks, a new wildlife corridor, a huge amount of new housing, and a plan to phase out oil and gas production in the city and county. All of the changes are also creating jobs. By 2035, the city expects to have 300,000 new green jobs. “We expect to see a significant amount of economic opportunity,” says O’Connor. Since Garcetti took office in 2013, the city has seen roughly 35,000 new green jobs (To put that in perspective, there are only around 50,000 jobs in the coal industry in the entire country).
By 2025, the city expects to be able to cut its emissions in half compared to a decade earlier, a pace faster than what’s called for in the latest UN climate report. “Climate change is a global emergency,” says Garcetti. “There’s no greater threat to our national security, our economic growth, to the very survival of our cities, our world, and future generations. And obviously we don’t need more studies to show us the reality about climate change. We just have to look out the window.”
https://www.fastcompany.com/90340978/los-angeles-just-announced-its-own-green-new-deal-to-drastically-slash-emissions
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Apr 29, 2019 | Environmental Defense Fund
Gov. Tom Wolf today released the state’s Climate Action Plan, which assesses a suite of strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Pennsylvania. The plan, crafted for a state that has become one of the nation’s leading energy exporters, is a critical step in the fight against climate change and makes clear that emissions from the state’s power sector must be addressed in order to meet Gov. Wolf’s greenhouse gas reduction goals.
Signaling the gravity of his commitment to combat the worst elements of climate change, Gov. Wolf also announced he will join other leading states and governments in the pledge to meet the goals under the Paris Climate Accord by formally becoming a member of the United States Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of states committed to the objectives of the Paris Agreement on climate change that now represents over 50 percent of the U.S. population.
This announcement comes after Gov. Wolf signed an executive order on Jan. 8 committing Pennsylvania to greenhouse gas reductions of 26 percent by 2025 and 80 percent by 2050 from 2005 levels. The plan underscores the need – and real opportunity – for Pennsylvania to move forward in setting a binding, declining limit on carbon emissions from the power sector that facilitates energy markets appropriately valuing lowest-cost, least-polluting energy resources. Pennsylvania is currently the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the U.S.
“The Climate Action Plan unveiled today by Gov. Wolf presents Pennsylvania with the opportunity to take meaningful climate action while protecting Pennsylvania communities and preserving a healthy economy. The biggest area of opportunity is aggressively limiting carbon emissions from the power sector. Power sector limits coupled with direct regulation of methane emissions are the 1-2 punch in the fight against climate change that, if implemented, can put Pennsylvania on the road to success.”
https://www.edf.org/media/gov-wolf-joins-us-climate-alliance-releases-pennsylvania-climate-action-plan-supportive-swift
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