Preview Newsletter
ACC ap 24
-
(ACC Blog) Listen to the Science from Johns Hopkins University: Decreased Risk of BPA to Newborns
Apr 23, 2015 | American Chemistry Matters
By Steven Hentges, Ph.D
Parents have been concerned about the potential health effects of bisphenol A (BPA) on their children for years, based in no small part on scary headlines that have been heavily promoted. Surely parents would be interested, even relieved, to know that their concerns are not well founded. http://blog.americanchemistry.com/ -
(ACC Mentioned) Groups Struggle To Communicate On TSCA Reform -- Especially When Many Voters Think It's Already Happened
Apr 24, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Sam Pearson
Opposing a bipartisan chemical safety bill backed by powerful industry groups in a Republican-controlled Congress is no small order. But the scrappy Environmental Working Group has made defeating the legislation one of its top priorities and is striving to get its message out against formidable foes -- and, just as important, amid public apathy. -
Fashion Brands Ranked on Hazardous Chemicals Management
Apr 23, 2015 | Chemical Watch
By Leigh Stringer
Greenpeace Asia has issued its latest ranking of major fashion brands, according to their efforts to eliminate toxic chemicals from their supply chains. The NGO's “Detox Catwalk” online platform ranks companies on the steps they are taking to make their suppliers publicly disclose information, and their work to eliminate known hazardous... -
North American NGOs Urge Governments to Back Global PCP Ban
Apr 23, 2015 | Chemical Watch
Several NGOs across North America, including the International POPs Elimination Network (Ipen) and the Canadian Environmental Law Association (Cela), have called on the governments of Mexico, Canada and the US to support a global ban on the wood preservative pentachlorophenol (PCP). -
Lowe’s Faces Mounting Pressure to Stop Selling Flooring Chemical
Apr 23, 2015 | Bloomberg
By Matt Townsend
Lowe’s Cos. is facing pressure to stop selling flooring with a potentially toxic chemical after rival Home Depot Inc. pledged to do so. Home Depot, the world’s largest home-improvement chain, announced Wednesday that it will phase out vinyl flooring with phthalates by the end of this year. The company made the move after working with... -
Health Groups Find Toxic Chemicals in Flooring Products
Apr 22, 2015 | The Boston Globe
By Jack Newsham
Environmental and consumer groups have found that some flooring sold by national chains like Lowe’s and Ace Hardware contain dangerous chemicals. The Ecology Center, the Michigan-based group that led the study, worked with local groups to collect and test vinyl tile samples from building supply retailers. More than half of the samples... -
(ACC Mentioned) Colorado Supreme Court Bars “Lone Pine” Case Management Orders
Apr 23, 2015 | Lexology
By Jed Winer
Here at the Monitor, we keep a close eye on developments relating to the drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” One such development relates to litigation in Colorado and, in particular, the trial court’s use of a “Lone Pine” case management order in Antero Resources v. Strudley. As my colleague, Emily Pincow, reported ... -
Moniz Still Sees No ‘Compelling’ Case For Removing U.S. Crude Oil Export Ban
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Nushin Huq
Industry still has not presented a compelling economic case for lifting the ban on U.S. crude oil exports, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz told reporters April 23 during the IHS Energy CERAweek conference. “This is a Department of Commerce issue, so I'm not for it or against it,” Moniz said. “I'm just saying from an ... -
Backlog of Wells Waiting to Be Fracked Triples as Drillers Keep Oil From Market
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Lynn Doan and Dan Murtaugh
Think the U.S. is awash in crude now? Thank the “fracklog” that it's not worse. Drillers in oil and gas fields from Texas to Pennsylvania have yet to turn on the spigots at 4,731 wells they've drilled, keeping 322,000 barrels a day underground, a Bloomberg Intelligence analysis shows. That's almost as much as OPEC member Libya has ... -
Inhofe Unconvinced of Tie Between Fracking, Earthquakes Despite Oklahoma State Report
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Anthony Adragna
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) told Bloomberg BNA April 23 that he remains skeptical of evidence that energy development operations in his state are connected to greater incidences of earthquakes, despite an Oklahoma agency's report linking the two. Inhofe said Oklahoma has taken a “responsible and measured approach” ... -
Study Links Drilling to Earthquakes
Apr 23, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
Oil and gas drilling is responsible for small earthquakes at more than a dozen sites around the United States, the United States Geological Survey reported Thursday. In a new study, the agency looked at a 17 areas within eight states that have seen increased seismic activity over the last few years. The report and its authors conclude that... -
Hydrogel Could Green Up Fracking
Apr 23, 2015 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Stephen K. Ritter
Researchers have created a hydraulic fluid that transforms into an expandable hydrogel on interacting with carbon dioxide. The expansion process produces enough force to fracture rock. The hydrogel could reduce the amount of water and chemical additives required for hydraulic fracturing used to generate underground reservoirs for geothermal ... -
Policies Exist to Deal With Earthquake Risks Tied to Wastewater Injection, Lawmakers Told
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Alan Kovski
A Texas state regulator and a geology professor told a committee April 23 that policies and strategies exist for dealing with earthquake risks from oil and gas drilling and wastewater injection. Oil and gas companies are expected to avoid drilling at geological fault lines, Texas Railroad Commission Chairman Christi Craddick told the House... -
USGS Releases Models for Predicting Earthquakes Linked to Wastewater Injection
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Tripp Baltz
The U.S. Geological Survey released a report April 23 outlining a preliminary set of models for predicting how often earthquakes are expected to occur in areas where seismic activity has been linked to the disposal of oil and gas wastewater deep underground. The report examined an increase in seismicity that has occurred recently... -
Oil Companies Experiment With Turning Fracking Wastewater Into Geothermal Power
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Jeremy van Loon
Oil fracking companies seeking to improve their image and pull in a little extra cash are turning their wastewater into clean geothermal power, according to industry and academic sources. For every barrel of oil produced from a well, there's another seven barrels of water, much of it boiling hot. Instead of letting it go to waste, some companies... -
Lawmakers Ask Interior to Expand Proposed Offshore Oil, Gas Leasing Program
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ari Natter
The Interior Department should increase the size of its proposed offshore oil and gas leasing plan, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and 162 other lawmakers said in a letter April 23. The draft plan, released earlier this year, proposes 14 lease sales from 2017 to 2022, the smallest number... -
Oklahoma House Passes Legislation Aimed At Prohibiting, Detering Local Drilling Bans
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Paul Stinson
The Oklahoma House approved multiple pieces of legislation that would prohibit or deter local officials from banning oil and gas activities in their cities. The move is seen by the bill's supporters as clarifying the regulatory landscape while environmental groups view it as an attack on local authority. -
Moniz: Keystone’s a ‘Blip’
Apr 23, 2015 | PoliticoPro
By Darren Goode & Elana Schor
For all the political drama is has inspired, the Keystone XL pipeline is just a “blip” compared with the larger need to modernize the nation’s aging, inadequate energy infrastructure, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Thursday. Moniz told POLITICO in an interview at the IHS CERAWeek Conference that his Energy Department staff and ... -
At the Super Bowl of Energy, the Big Game Is on the Sidelines
Apr 23, 2015 | National Journal
By Ben Geman
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz gave two sets of remarks on Wednesday night at a big energy conference here. The first, a panel discussion with his counterparts from Mexico and Canada, was open to journalists and all attendees at the annual IHS CERAWeek gathering. The second, a conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning energy... -
Baker Signals Support for Expanded Pipeline in New England
Apr 23, 2015 | The Boston Globe
By Jay Fitzgerald
Governor Charlie Baker on Thursday sent a strong signal to other New England governors that his administration is behind coordinated efforts to upgrade the region’s natural gas pipeline system and import large amounts of hydroelectricity from Quebec to help ease skyrocketing energy prices. -
Controls Available to Reduce Oil Well Flaring
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
Cost-effective controls exist to reduce flaring at tight oil wells in Texas and North Dakota, the Clean Air Task Force said in a report released April 23. Flaring from oil wells in the Bakken formation in North Dakota and the Eagle Ford formation in Texas has increased from 200,000 barrels a day in 2007 to 3.1 million barrels a day in 2015, but controls... -
Carbon ‘Blueprint’ Shows Risks From Not Preparing for Cheap Fuel
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Justin Doom
Oil and natural gas companies that fail to consider the risks of a warmer planet and cheaper fossil fuels are jeopardizing shareholder value, according to a report by Carbon Tracker Initiative and Energy Transition Advisors. “Senior management is overly focused on demand and price scenarios that assume business as usual,” Paul... -
House Energy and Commerce Committee To Release Efficiency Portion of Energy Bill
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ari Natter
The House Energy and Commerce Committee plans to soon release sections of comprehensive energy legislation relating to energy efficiency and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the committee said in a statement April 23. The energy efficiency section will focus on increasing the efficiency of the federal government through improved... -
McCarthy: EPA Clean Power Plan Deadline Might Be Delayed to Avoid Electricity Outages
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Nushin Huq
The EPA would push out the 2020 interim deadline for the Clean Power Plan if necessary to protect the reliability of the nation's electricity, Administrator Gina McCarthy said in Houston during the IHS Energy CERAweek conference. “There's a lot of opportunities for us to address any reliability concerns that might arise that the utilities have raised,”... -
Obama and the Environment: Clean Power or Power Play?
Apr 24, 2015 | The Hill - Congress Blog
By Richard O. Faulk
Recently, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals heard one of the strangest cases ever argued in a federal appellate court – a seemingly esoteric controversy that, in any other context, might be relegated to obscurity. But since winning this case is the linchpin President Obama needs to win the “War Against Coal,” the EPA has staked everything on pulling... -
Power Rule Won't Harm Grid Reliability -- McCarthy
Apr 24, 2015 | E&E News PM
By Jean Chemnick
U.S. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy told energy executives in Houston today that the Clean Power Plan wouldn't harm grid reliability. Delivering a keynote address at IHS CERAWeek, McCarthy told executives from industries that would be regulated under the power plant rule that EPA has taken care not to disrupt their ability to deliver ... -
Interim Goal for EPA Clean Power Plan Is Unattainable, Texas Commissioners Say
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Nushin Huq
Texas has a strong track record when it comes to regulating the power sector, but the interim goal in the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan is cause for concern, Texas regulators said April 23 at the IHS Energy CERAWeek conference in Houston. “The cloud on the horizon is a whole range of environmental rules... -
EPA Won't Release Ozone Standard, State Guidelines at Same Time
Apr 23, 2015 | E&E News PM
By Amanda Peterka
U.S. EPA is unlikely to release state implementation rules at the same time it picks a final ozone standard, agency officials said yesterday. EPA has proposed tightening the national standard for ozone, a key ingredient of smog, from 75 parts per billion to between 65 and 70 ppb. The agency is under a court-ordered deadline to choose a final... -
Scientists Explain Why Arctic Matters As U.S. Readies to Chair Regional Council
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrea Vittorio
The nation's scientific community wants you to know that what happens in the Arctic doesn't stay in the Arctic. Rapid changes in the region could have implications for sea level rise on U.S. coastlines and elsewhere, global greenhouse gas emissions, the fish sticks in your freezer and maybe even our weather, according to a new booklet... -
Schatz Confident Obama Climate Agenda To Survive Congressional Assault on Authority
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Anthony Adragna & Dean Scott
Senate Democrats are preparing for the “next legislative fight” on climate change—defending President Barack Obama's carbon pollution regulations from a barrage of Republican attacks—but are confident they have the votes to prevail, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) told Bloomberg BNA in an exclusive interview. -
USDA to Use Incentives in Bid to Reduce Carbon Emissions From Agriculture, Forestry
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Nora Macaluso
The Obama administration plans to use a combination of voluntary programs authorized in the 2014 Farm Bill to encourage farmers, ranchers and landowners to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and increase the use of carbon sequestration, with the aim of cutting emissions by more than 120 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent... -
Obama Looks to Farmers, Foresters to Fight Climate Change
Apr 23, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
The Obama administration announced a suite of voluntary programs Thursday aimed at getting farmers, ranchers and foresters to adopt more environmentally friendly practices. The measures, overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), will prevent or sequester more than 120 million metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent... -
FRA Collecting Information on Crude Oil Derailments
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
The Federal Railroad Administration will publish April 24 a notice regarding collection of information regarding crude oil train accidents. The railroad administration announced April 17 it would conduct the information collection, at the same time it announced its emergency order (E.O. 30) to implement additional speed restrictions for certain flammable... -
Lithium Batteries Top Agenda for Industries, Regulators Ahead of Air Transport Meeting
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rachel Leven
In preparation for an international meeting on global air transport standards for dangerous goods, certain manufacturers sought to clarify April 23 what mitigation techniques that airlines and federal regulators see as necessary to ship lithium batteries safely as cargo on flights.
Industry and Association News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Chemical Management News
Chemical Security News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Energy and Environment News
Transportation News
Full Text of Stories Below
-
(ACC Blog) Listen to the Science from Johns Hopkins University: Decreased Risk of BPA to Newborns
Apr 23, 2015 | American Chemistry Matters
By Steven Hentges, Ph.D
Parents have been concerned about the potential health effects of bisphenol A (BPA) on their children for years, based in no small part on scary headlines that have been heavily promoted. Surely parents would be interested, even relieved, to know that their concerns are not well founded.
Importantly, a new study helps to put concerned parents at ease about the health of their newborn children. As the latest study’s authors stated in a news release, the “risk [of BPA] to newborns may be smaller than previously believed.” The study found that newborns are able to efficiently metabolize and eliminate BPA from the body in the same way as adults.
It’s well established that adults can efficiently convert BPA to a biologically inactive metabolite and quickly eliminate it from the body in urine. This process, which has been studied extensively in laboratory animals and adult human volunteers, makes it unlikely that BPA could cause health effects at the low levels humans experience, at least in adults.
What hasn’t been as well studied is whether that same process occurs as efficiently in children, in particular infants. In a study published this week, a group of researchers at Johns Hopkins University set out to determine if infants, just days after birth, have the same ability to metabolize and eliminate BPA from the body.
Following a sound scientific practice, the researcher started with a hypothesis that could be tested experimentally: “We hypothesized that less efficient BPA metabolism in the first week of the neonatal period would result in higher urine free BPA concentrations in neonates during the first week of life compared with the later part of the neonatal period.”
To test the hypothesis, the researchers analyzed urine from infants in the first week after birth and later in the first month after birth. If the hypothesis is true, higher levels of “free BPA” (i.e., BPA that has not been metabolized) would be found in the first urine sample, which could indicate that newborns are at higher risk for health effects from exposure to BPA.
Although the researchers found the metabolite of BPA in the majority of the urine samples they analyzed, which indicates the infants had been exposed to very low levels of BPA, they found no measureable level of “free BPA” in any of the samples at either time point.
In the words of the researchers, “Our results illustrate … efficient conjugation of BPA to its readily excretable and biologically inactive form … as early as 3 days of age.” Just as in adults, these findings indicate that BPA is unlikely to cause health effects in newborns.
These new results provide further support to prominent government agencies that listened to the science and have offered the public reassuring conclusions on the safety of BPA. For example, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) answered the question “Is BPA Safe?” with a single unambiguous word – “Yes.” Most recently, the European Food Safety Authority concluded that BPA poses “no health risk to consumer of any age group.”
-
Apr 24, 2015 | E&E Daily News
By Sam Pearson
Opposing a bipartisan chemical safety bill backed by powerful industry groups in a Republican-controlled Congress is no small order.
But the scrappy Environmental Working Group has made defeating the legislation one of its top priorities and is striving to get its message out against formidable foes -- and, just as important, amid public apathy.
The group's founder, Ken Cook, said in a recent visit to the group's three-story headquarters at Washington, D.C.'s U Street Corridor -- which features framed copies of chemical industry documents released in toxic tort litigation and bisphenol-A-free metal cups -- that it can be frustrating trying to gain traction in the chemical safety debate.
EWG seldom worked on the federal chemicals law, the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, before the group became involved in a campaign to pressure DuPont Co. to reformulate its Teflon product in 2002. DuPont agreed to change Teflon's formula after internal company documents produced during litigation brought on behalf of a group of Parkersburg, W.Va., residents living near DuPont's Teflon plant showed the company knew as early as 1984 that a contaminant -- known as perfluorooctanoic acid, PFOA or C8 -- was entering area drinking water. In 2005, the company settled with U.S. EPA and agreed to pay a $10.25 million administrative fine -- at the time, the largest civil administrative penalty ever obtained under any environmental law.
Today, these once-secret documents on the office walls are a souvenir of EWG's past policy wins, a reminder for the group's staffers as they work against the chemical industry's top legislative priority of what they say is the industry's duplicitousness.
Despite the Teflon win, environmental groups have not always been so engaged on the issue of managing toxic chemicals, Cook said, and he worries it may put advocates at a disadvantage.
"This is not an issue that has occupied a lot of mind space in the environmental community," Cook said of the debate in Congress over a bipartisan chemical safety bill backed by Sens. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and David Vitter (R-La.) and a version by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) that lacks the support of Republicans. "We don't have a huge number of experts."
Congress is debating what could be the single biggest change to federal environmental law in decades, which poses a special challenge for advocacy groups -- how to make sometimes dense chemical issues tangible to the public, and how to show that a potentially far-reaching change to federal law is worth paying attention to in a Congress where symbolic actions are sometimes the only ones taken.
EWG spent about $1.7 million on its toxics and human health campaign in 2013, the most recent year available in disclosure forms required to be filed with the Internal Revenue Service -- a small fraction of the $111 million in revenue the industry-backed American Chemistry Council took in during that time.
Changing the nation's chemicals law in a way that does not sufficiently protect the public health, Cook said, has "far more potential impact than, say, I think Keystone would have on public health and the environment ... but it's not something that we've gotten warmed up to yet like we have that pipeline, which we also oppose."
One problem is that most Americans don't know that industry groups, environment and public health advocates, and lawmakers of both parties think the Toxic Substances Control Act doesn't work. In fact, lawmakers are working on a problem most people think was already fixed.
"It's almost so bad that people just don't believe it," said Jack Pratt, the chemicals campaign director at the Environmental Defense Fund.
EDF, which supports Udall and Vitter's bill, S. 697, or the "Frank Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act," commissioned a poll this year that found 75 percent of Americans think the government already requires safety reviews of chemicals before they are allowed in stores. That means advocates of changing the law must first explain that the status quo isn't a good option, Pratt said.
Another group, Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, found in a 2010 poll it commissioned that broad majorities of the public favored tougher restrictions on chemicals, with the results crossing political parties. The poll conducted by the Mellman Group, a Democratic firm, found that 73 percent of respondents thought that toxic chemicals posed a "serious" or "very serious" threat, and the figure rose to 78 percent when respondents were asked about the threat toxic chemicals pose to children.
The poll also found that environmental health organizations were viewed more credibly among the public than the chemicals industry. According to the survey, 57 percent viewed environmental organizations favorably, and 59 percent viewed U.S. EPA favorably. In comparison, the poll found that 45 percent of respondents viewed chemical companies unfavorably.
Boxer has sought to play up the credibility of environmental health organizations and cast the chemical industry as an unreliable, self-interested party.
Boxer's office has worked aggressively to paint the bill as authored primarily by the chemical industry -- citing the "properties" field of a Microsoft Word document that she said listed the American Chemistry Council as the document's author -- and thus of suspect origins. The industry's heavy spending on federal lobbying is also reason for concern, Boxer has said. (Though Boxer's office obtained the opinion of Senate technology staff that the document was created by a user with the American Chemistry Council, Microsoft Office allows anyone to change a file's properties, including its listed author, and Udall's office and the ACC have denied that the trade group wrote the bill -- just that it weighs in like any other interest group.)
Boxer said at a hearing last month that if you asked the average American, "Who do you believe more, politicians or the Breast Cancer Fund, I think you know the answer."
American Chemistry Council spokeswoman Anne Kolton declined to discuss the group's advocacy approach. 'Out of sight, out of mind'
"These don't tend to be environmental problems that people see," said David Konisky, an associate professor of public policy at Georgetown University. "It's not a matter of it being in their air, they don't always taste them in their water. They're just sort of out of sight, out of mind, for the most part."
Many Americans have a persistent faith in technological progress and trust that the government would take what can seem like obvious steps to prevent unsafe chemicals from entering the marketplace, said Charles Margulis, the media director at the Center for Environmental Health. After all, that's what other federal agencies try to do with prescription drugs, sunscreens, and meat and dairy products, to name a few.
People often become concerned about specific chemicals when they learn about pollutants that directly affect them, like if contamination was found near where they live or if a family member is affected by an illness or infertility that could be linked to chemical exposures, Margulis said.
"Americans are optimistic," Magulis said. "They believe in progress and that things are getting better. You know, the reality when it comes to chemical exposures is things aren't really getting better."
After TSCA was enacted in 1976, it quickly became apparent that the law was toothless, and that made chemical advocacy unattractive to many environmental organizations, Cook said. Its limitations became clear when EPA lost the 1991 Corrosion Proof Fittings case when a judge found the agency had not met its legal obligations under TSCA to ban asbestos, a cancer-causing mineral.
At congressional hearings, disagreements often center on hypothetical legal scenarios, disputes over how many chemicals should be reviewed and how states' legal authorities would be impacted, which can be hard to boil down to bumper sticker phrases or catchy advocacy email alerts.
One advocacy group, Safer States, has been posting "translations" of letters from state attorneys general, putting their legal arguments in a conversational tone. It distilled Massachusetts' letter of opposition down to "States rock at chemical policy: let them rock steady."
Many legal observers disagree over whether language in each of the bills would be analyzed in the same way that the Corrosion Proof Fittings precedent has tilted EPA's burden of proof in favor of industry, or if a new law would be interpreted in a different light.
"Bipartisan agreement on an important issue isn't a sexy issue to talk about in the media," Jennifer Talhelm, a spokeswoman for Udall, said in an email. "It's very easy for people to make extreme attacks that get attention -- it's much harder to explain the reality and the substance behind how Senator Udall's bill would help protect families."
Cook says he worries that if Congress passes an inadequate TSCA fix, the public will stop paying attention again.
"A setback on TSCA will be a huge setback for the entire environmental movement," Cook said. "I don't think it's dawned on people yet that this could be a real black eye and set a really bad precedent for the environmental community if this thing gets away from us. We've got to fight it, and we will."
-
Fashion Brands Ranked on Hazardous Chemicals Management
Apr 23, 2015 | Chemical Watch
By Leigh Stringer
Greenpeace Asia has issued its latest ranking of major fashion brands, according to their efforts to eliminate toxic chemicals from their supply chains.
The NGO's “Detox Catwalk” online platform ranks companies on the steps they are taking to make their suppliers publicly disclose information, and their work to eliminate known hazardous chemicals from their products and manufacturing processes.
The platform places companies into three categories: detox leaders: these are described as “companies leading the industry towards a toxic-free future with credible timelines, concrete actions and on-the-ground implementation”;greenwashers – companies that are “so far, failing to take individual corporate responsibility for their hazardous chemical pollution”; anddetox losers – described as “uncommitted toxic addicts that refuse to take responsibility for their toxic trail and have yet to make a credible, individual Detox commitment.” Detox Catwalk listed companies
Adidas has moved from the greenwasher category to a detox leader, since it committed to 99% poly- and perfluorinated chemical (PFC)-free products by 31 December 2017 (CW 11 June 2014).
Since signing up to the detox campaign, Primark and Burberry have both been included in the detox leaders category for their work with Greenpeace and China-based NGO, the Chinese Institute for Environmental Affairs (IPE), to disclose discharge information provided by their suppliers. The two companies have also committed to eliminating PFCs from their products.
Fashion brands Hermes, LMVH Group (owner of Louis Vuitton and Dior), Versace and Dolce and Gabbana, which have not signed up to the Detox campaign, have been included in the detox losers category, this year.
In a video posted on the Greenpeace website, representatives of some of the companies ranked as leaders commented on the progress they had made in managing hazardous chemicals. Mike Barry, director of sustainability at UK retailer Marks & Spencer, said his company strove to get its Chinese dye houses to disclose information and is “now at a position where over 75% of M&S production in China is publicly reporting on its performance.”
Intidex’s head of environmental sustainability, Antonio Alvarez Sanchez, said his company follows the precautionary principle and that engaging with the chemicals sector is vital to finding safer alternatives.
Detox campaigner at Greenpeace East Asia, Yixiu Wu, said the 16 detox leaders are all companies that have started eliminating some of the most “widely used toxic chemicals, including hormone disruptors such as nonylphenols, phthalates and PFCs”.
In the video, associate professor at the College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at Peking University, Liu Jianguo, said that increased supply chain transparency is good practice for sound chemicals management, and will help decision makers draft and promote solid policies in China.
“Once companies are transparent, the public then has a chance to monitor what's happening in the industry - they have a chance to take part in the risk management of chemicals. In fact, it promotes good governance of this issue,” he said.
-
North American NGOs Urge Governments to Back Global PCP Ban
Apr 23, 2015 | Chemical Watch
Several NGOs across North America, including the International POPs Elimination Network (Ipen) and the Canadian Environmental Law Association (Cela), have called on the governments of Mexico, Canada and the US to support a global ban on the wood preservative pentachlorophenol (PCP).
The Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC) of the UN Stockholm Convention has issued a recommendation saying PCP, its salts and esters, should be added to Annex A of the convention (CW 22 October 2013). If adopted, this would lead to a ban on its production and use in countries which are parties to it.
The decision would have no binding effect on the market in the US, which has not ratified the convention. However, PCP is almost entirely used in the US and Canada as a preservative for utility poles.
Although the US is not a party to the convention, it “can play an instrumental role, protecting the health of the global community by supporting a ban on PCP”, the NGOs say.
According to Cela, “the POPs Review Committee has been tremendously thorough in its work and has demonstrated that safe alternatives exist that will allow present users to move away from PCP.”
The proposed amendment will be considered at the seventh Conference of the Parties, which will take place between 4 and 15 May. Also on the agenda are the Annex A inclusions of polychlorinated naphthalenes and hexachlorobutadiene (HCBD).
Meanwhile, the EU Council of Ministers has agreed to support all three recommendations, according to a decision published in the Official Journal.
In addition, the Council has announced that the EU will submit a proposal for the listing of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and its compounds in Annex A.
PFOA and its ammonium salt are included in the candidate list of substances of very high concern, as they meet the criteria for being toxic for reproduction category 1B and are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic.
According to the Council, these measures taken at Union level are not sufficient to ensure protection of the environment and human health, considering the worldwide uses of the compounds.
-
Lowe’s Faces Mounting Pressure to Stop Selling Flooring Chemical
Apr 23, 2015 | Bloomberg
By Matt Townsend
Lowe’s Cos. is facing pressure to stop selling flooring with a potentially toxic chemical after rival Home Depot Inc. pledged to do so.
Home Depot, the world’s largest home-improvement chain, announced Wednesday that it will phase out vinyl flooring with phthalates by the end of this year. The company made the move after working with environmental and health advocates, who found the chemical in flooring sold at Home Depot, Lowe’s and Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc.
Now attention turns to Lowe’s, the industry’s second-largest chain, which is still reviewing research on the chemical. The company said it’s working with suppliers to consider alternatives to offer the “best possible products.”
Phthalates can pose risks to human health, including asthma, harm to male reproductive organs, brain development and the immune system, according to advocates fighting to remove the chemical from products.
“Home Depot’s new policy sends a strong signal to the marketplace that retailers want healthier building materials free of harmful chemicals like phthalates,” said Andy Igrejas, director of Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, which worked with the Ecology Center to test retailers’ flooring. “We call on Lowe’s and other major home-improvement retailers to join Home Depot in phasing out phthalates in flooring.”
Lumber Liquidators, which has already come under scrutiny for allegedly toxic levels of formaldehyde in its laminate flooring, has been working since last year with suppliers to reduce the levels of phthalates in its vinyl offerings.
“This is consistent with Home Depot’s efforts and with our comprehensive commitment to product quality and safety,” Lumber Liquidators said in a statement. “To be clear, all our products -- vinyl or otherwise -- are safe for consumers.”
-
Health Groups Find Toxic Chemicals in Flooring Products
Apr 22, 2015 | The Boston Globe
By Jack Newsham
Environmental and consumer groups have found that some flooring sold by national chains like Lowe’s and Ace Hardware contain dangerous chemicals.
The Ecology Center, the Michigan-based group that led the study, worked with local groups to collect and test vinyl tile samples from building supply retailers. More than half of the samples tested by the group contained phthalates, a chemical used to soften vinyl flooring that has been linked to negative health effects.
Researchers focused their efforts on vinyl tile flooring because certain varieties have become popular with consumers recently, said Jeff Gearhart, a spokesman for the Ecology Center. Mike Schade, an anti-toxin campaigner whose group also helped with the study, said the hazards of vinyl tile were also less widely known than the risks of sheet vinyl, which contains more phthalates.
“We think that this is going to have huge ripple effects through the flooring industry,” said Schade, who works for the group Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families. Home Depot agreed last spring to begin phasing the dangerous chemical out of its vinyl flooring products and is set to finish the job at the end of this year, said Schade, who hopes other sellers will follow its lead.
Boston-based Clean Water Action participated in the project by gathering samples at a Lowe’s store in Braintree. Cindy Luppi, the group’s New England director, said the Armstrong tiles the group tested didn’t contain phthalates and tile makers should use alternative materials.
“We have been in conversations with retailers and manufacturers,” Luppi said. “Modern innovation can get us to safer chemicals and safer products, and a lot of the innovators are located in Massachusetts.”
Flooring samples were obtained from Lowe’s, Ace Hardware, Menard’s, Build.com, and Lumber Liquidators for the study. The 17 samples from Lumber Liquidators and four from Ace Hardware all had phthalates in them, researchers said, and 13 out of 27 samples from Lowe’s tested positive for the chemical. Two vinyl tile brands, Armstrong and Designer Image, had extremely low or no phthalates. Gearhart, the Ecology Center spokesman, said the sampling was done based on what products were available.
Home Depot confirmed it was phasing out the materials. Lowe’s didn’t immediately respond for comment. Ace Hardware and Menard’s didn’t return requests for comment. Lumber Liquidators said it is “actively transitioning” away from phthalate-containing vinyl floor tiles and said its products were safe.
The report comes several weeks after an investigation by the program 60 Minutes that found some of the company’s laminate flooring contained high levels of formaldehyde. The company has said its products are safe. Jack Newsham can be reached at jack.newsham@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TheNewsHam. E-Mail Share via e-mail
-
(ACC Mentioned) Colorado Supreme Court Bars “Lone Pine” Case Management Orders
Apr 23, 2015 | Lexology
By Jed Winer
Here at the Monitor, we keep a close eye on developments relating to the drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” One such development relates to litigation in Colorado and, in particular, the trial court’s use of a “Lone Pine” case management order in Antero Resources v. Strudley. As my colleague, Emily Pincow, reported previously on our blog, Antero Resources asked the trial court to enter a modified case management (“Lone Pine”) order requiring the Strudleys to present prima facie evidence that they suffered injuries attributable to the defendants’ natural gas drilling operations. (While the complaint identified several chemicals that allegedly polluted the plaintiffs’ property, it did not causally connect specific chemicals to actual injuries.) The trial court granted the motion and issued a Lone Pine order directing the plaintiffs to provide prima facie evidence to support their allegations of exposure, injury, and causation prior to the commencement of full discovery. The trial court determined that the Strudleys failed to present sufficient evidence and dismissed their case with prejudice. The court of appeals reversed, concluding that, as a matter of first impression, Lone Pine orders were not permitted as a matter of Colorado law. The Colorado Supreme Court granted certiorari to review the appellate decision and, in a highly anticipated opinion (available here), affirmed the appellate court, holding that “Colorado’s Rules of Civil Procedure do not allow a trial court to issue a modified case management order, such as a Lone Pine order, that requires a plaintiff to present prima facie evidence in support of a claim before a plaintiff can exercise its full rights of discovery under the Colorado Rules.”
The Colorado Supreme Court explained that while “the comments to C.R.C.P. 16 promote active judicial case management, the rule does not provide a trial court with authority to fashion its own summary judgment-like filter and dismiss claims during the early stages of litigation.” In particular, the Supreme Court noted differences between Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16 (governing pretrial conferences, scheduling, and case management) and its Colorado counterpart. For example, Colorado did not adopt a counterpart to Federal Rule 16(c), which explicitly grants trial courts substantial discretion to adopt procedures to streamline complex litigation in its early stages, “[a]t any pretrial conference.” In addition, Federal Rule 16(c)(2)(L) authorizes trial courts to “consider and take appropriate action” by “adopting special procedures for managing potentially difficult or protracted actions that may involve complex issues, multiple parties, difficult legal questions, or unusual proof problems.” Federal Rule 16(c)(2)(A) also grants trial courts authority to “formulat[e] and simplify[] the issues, and eliminat[e] frivolous claims or defenses.” Furthermore, Rule 16(c)(2)(P) authorizes trial courts to “facilitat[e] in other ways the just, speedy, and inexpensive disposition of the action.”
Thus, according to the Colorado Supreme Court, “[t]he language of C.R.C.P. 16 is markedly different from the language of Fed. R. Civ. P. 16. On its face, C.R.C.P. 16 does not contain a grant of authority for complex cases or otherwise afford trial courts the authority to require a plaintiff to make a prima facie showing before the plaintiff fully exercises discovery rights under the Colorado Rules. Instead, C.R.C.P. 16 primarily addresses basic scheduling matters.”
In addition, the Colorado Supreme Court noted that other Colorado rules of civil procedure are adequate to dispose of non-meritorious claims. “For example, C.R.C.P. 11 allows a trial court to sanction attorneys and their clients for filing pleadings that are not ‘well grounded in fact’ or ‘warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law,’ or pleadings that are ‘interposed for any improper purpose.’ C.R.C.P. 12(b)(5) allows a court to dismiss a claim for ‘failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.’ C.R.C.P. 56 allows defendants to challenge the sufficiency of a claim before trial through a motion for summary judgment. Additionally, expert disclosures required under Rule 26(a)(2) and all of the discovery-related rules, especially Rules 30, 33, 34, and 36, ensure that the discovery process operates within clearly defined limits. Likewise, Rule 37 allows a trial court to sanction a party for failure to make a disclosure or cooperate in discovery.”
In short, the Court found that “no statute, rule, or past Colorado case recognizes authority for trial courts to enter Lone Pine order.” And while “[t]he Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure grant courts flexibility and discretion to address discovery disputes as they arise[,] … this judicial authority is limited; it does not allow a court to require a plaintiff to establish a prima facie case in the early stages of litigation while simultaneously barring discovery that might expose the very support sought to prove a claim.”
The opinion was not without a dissent, which argued that the majority applied a too literal reading of C.R.C.P. 16. As explained by the dissent, “[a]ctive case management by the judge is essential to running an efficient docket and administering justice. The rules encourage it, and caselaw, at times, demands it. Yet, today the majority taps the brakes on active case management and sends the message that unless the rules specifically authorize a docket management technique, judges lack the authority to use it in handling their cases. In my view, the modified case management order … at issue in this case was expressly authorized by the plain language of Colorado Rule of Civil Procedure 16, which allows trial courts to adjust the timelines for disclosures and discovery. Because Rule 16 allows for these modifications, I do not believe that it is necessary for the rule to expressly state that trial courts have the authority to issue Lone Pine orders. ”
In the dissent’s view, the information required by the Lone Pine order was information that the plaintiffs would ultimately have to produce at trial; the Lone Pine order simply accelerated the timeline for the plaintiffs to disclose such information. Such a modification of the timeline for disclosure was, according to the dissent, authorized by C.R.C.P. 16. “For example, Rule 16(c) states that ‘any of the provisions of section (b) . . . may be modified by the entry of a Modified Case Management Order.’ C.R.C.P. 16(c). And among the modifiable rules in 16(b) are provisions governing disclosures and discovery. Specifically, Rule 16(b)(5) states the presumptive rule that ‘[t]he parties shall disclose expert testimony in accordance with C.R.C.P. 26(a)(2),’ which defines the form, content, and timing of expert testimony disclosures. C.R.C.P. 16(b)(5). Rule 16(c) thus authorizes the trial court, in its discretion, to enter an MCMO that changes the substance of what must be included in expert disclosures and the timing of when they must be provided to the other side. This provides ample justification for the trial court’s requirement that the Strudleys disclose records and expert testimony at an earlier time in the case.”
Furthermore, the dissent noted that the Lone Pine order “required the Strudleys to produce … proof that their own land had been contaminated, that they had been exposed to chemicals, and that these chemicals caused them to suffer injuries. This information was so central to their claims against Antero Resources that the Strudleys should have had it before even filing their case.”
While the Court’s decision was closely watched (with over a dozen amicus briefs filed, including by the Colorado Petroleum Association, the Independent Petroleum Association of America, the American Petroleum Institute, the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, the American Chemistry Council, the American Coatings Association, the Metals Service Center Institute, the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, the Colorado Defense Lawyers Association, the Colorado Civil Justice League, the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, the Coalition for Litigation Justice, Inc., and the American Tort Reform Association), the impact of this decision may be limited to cases in Colorado state court.
The Colorado Supreme Court’s decision rested primarily on the fact that the State’s rules of civil procedure lacked explicit authorization to issue a Lone Pine case management order. Thus, the impact of this decision beyond Colorado may turn on how similar (or dissimilar) another state’s civil procedure rules on case management is to its federal counterpart and how willing other state’s high courts are to allow their trial courts flexibility in managing their cases.
-
Moniz Still Sees No ‘Compelling’ Case For Removing U.S. Crude Oil Export Ban
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Nushin Huq
Industry still has not presented a compelling economic case for lifting the ban on U.S. crude oil exports, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz told reporters April 23 during the IHS Energy CERAweek conference.
“This is a Department of Commerce issue, so I'm not for it or against it,” Moniz said. “I'm just saying from an economic perspective, we still import 7 million barrels of crude a day, so I don't think the economic arguments have been compelling.”
He added that members of Congress from both parties also have been wary of lifting the ban.
When asked about Sen. Lisa Murkowski's (R-Alaska) remarks April 20 at the conference comparing the partial lifting of sanctions against Iran to the export ban on U.S. crude oil, Moniz responded that the two issues are unrelated.
“They're two different situations,” Moniz said. “In Iran, the negotiations might allow them to resume to export some of their oil again. We're still importing 7 million barrels of crude a day.”
Big Player on LNG
Within the decade, Moniz said he expects U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, will be on par with Qatar, on the scale of 10 billion cubic feet per day.
“The U.S. will be a big player in the global LNG market even if we don't export anything,” Moniz said. “We used to import and now we're not doing that.”
Moniz also discussed the upcoming United Nations climate change summit in Paris in December. His hope is that the broad goals set in the conference for climate change, coupled with the completion of a Trans Pacific Partnership pact, will hasten opening up Asian market to U.S. renewable and water technologies.
No Comment on Keystone
In an April 23 panel discussion, Moniz was asked about the Keystone Pipeline. He declined to comment on the project.
The Canadian Minister of Natural Resources, Greg Rickford, threw his support behind the pipeline and expressed disappointment that it is still facing regulatory obstacles.
“We share the view of the State Department's own report,” Rickford said. “It is an infrastructure issue and should be confined to a discussion of infrastructure. We shouldn't talk about source.”
-
Backlog of Wells Waiting to Be Fracked Triples as Drillers Keep Oil From Market
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Lynn Doan and Dan Murtaugh
Think the U.S. is awash in crude now? Thank the “fracklog” that it's not worse.
Drillers in oil and gas fields from Texas to Pennsylvania have yet to turn on the spigots at 4,731 wells they've drilled, keeping 322,000 barrels a day underground, a Bloomberg Intelligence analysis shows. That's almost as much as OPEC member Libya has been pumping in 2015.
The number of wells waiting to be hydraulically fractured, known as the fracklog, has tripled in the past year as companies delay work in order to avoid pumping more oil while prices are low. It's kept crude off the market with storage tanks the fullest since 1930. The fracklog may slow a recovery as firms quickly finish wells at the first sign of higher prices.
“Once service costs come down and drillers begin to work through their higher-than-normal backlog, the market should start to price in that supply coming online,” Andrew Cosgrove, an energy analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence in Princeton, N.J., said by phone. “It may act as a cap on prices.”
IMAGE
Futures for U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate oil tumbled by more than $50 a barrel in the second half of 2014 amid a worldwide glut of crude. They rose $1.99 to $58.15 a barrel at April 23 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Projected Rise in Production
Oil production in the lower 48 states would rise 322,000 barrels a day to an average 7.485 million in the fourth quarter of 2016 if drillers start shrinking their fracklogs by 125 wells a month in October, Bloomberg Intelligence models show. The forecast assumes horizontal oil rigs fall another 10 percent through the third quarter and prices are unchanged.
A second scenario, in which crude prices rebound to $60 to $65 a barrel for an extended period and drillers put rigs back to work, increases supply by 500,000 barrels a day to 7.67 million.
The U.S. fracklog has ballooned as drillers wait for prices to recover, with oil wells making up more than 80 percent of the total.
The Permian Basin, which covers parts of Texas and New Mexico, had the biggest collection of unfracked wells as of February, with 1,540 waiting to be completed. The count totaled 1,250 in Texas's Eagle Ford formation and 632 in North Dakota's Bakken shale.
Last week, Raoul LeBlanc, an oil analyst with Englewood, Colo.-based consultant IHS Inc., pegged the U.S. fracklog at around 3,000 wells. Halliburton Co., the world's second-biggest provider of oil field services, estimated there are about 4,000 uncompleted wells, citing “third party estimates.”
Backlogs Growing in Fringe Areas
Fracklogs are growing faster in the fringe areas of play relative to the cores where the most productive wells are, according to the Bloomberg Intelligence analysis. In the Eagle Ford, for example, counties at the edge of the play like Lee and Lavaca saw companies go from completing more than 60 percent of their wells in November to less than 20 percent in February.
Large independent producers such as ConocoPhillips, Occidental Petroleum Corp., Marathon Oil Corp., Hess Corp. and EOG Resources Inc. hold a significant portion of the backlog of drilled but uncompleted wells.
Those companies are already seeing more incentive to start eating into their backlog as crude prices have risen by one-third since mid-March. After-tax returns would be 5 percent to 10 percent higher than they were just two months ago when oil was at $45, Cosgrove said.
ConocoPhillips Chief Executive Officer Ryan Lance said at the IHS CERAWeek Energy conference in Houston on April 20 that increased well completions may exacerbate the supply glut, depending on whether oil demand rises.
“Those who are drilling and deferring completions—obviously, if they get a price signal that the commodity price is coming back a little bit, you'll see more supply come on,” he said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Lynn Doan in San Francisco at ldoan6@bloomberg.net and Dan Murtaugh in Houston at dmurtaugh@bloomberg.net
-
Inhofe Unconvinced of Tie Between Fracking, Earthquakes Despite Oklahoma State Report
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Anthony Adragna
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) told Bloomberg BNA April 23 that he remains skeptical of evidence that energy development operations in his state are connected to greater incidences of earthquakes, despite an Oklahoma agency's report linking the two.
Inhofe said Oklahoma has taken a “responsible and measured approach” in evaluating new scientific evidence on the links between earthquakes and hydraulic fracturing operations. He said there is significant disagreement among prominent sources about that connection, pointing to statements from the National Academy of Sciences in 2012 that there is low risk of seismic events from fracking operations.
“Oklahoma is located on a fault line, and seismic activity is believed to have been going on for thousands of years, so looking at seismic data from the mid-1970s to make definitive conclusions about industry connections is short-sighted,” Inhofe said. “Local scientists and the state are continuing to monitor and research the situation. Before the issue becomes hyper-politicized by environmentalists, we need to let them do their jobs so we get reliable and sound data.”
While underground disposal of water used in oil and gas operations has been practiced by the industry for more than 70 years, Inhofe said the recent uptick in earthquakes has only occurred over the last few years.
“Oklahoma is demonstrating exactly why regulating our domestic energy resources is best left to the states,” Inhofe, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said.
Inhofe's comments come after the Oklahoma Geologic Survey said April 21 it is “very likely” that the majority of recent earthquakes in the state were due to the injection or disposal of water associated with oil and gas production (78 DEN A-18, 4/23/15).
Governor Calls Findings Significant
Those findings were called significant by Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R), who had previously expressed skepticism about the link between increased numbers of earthquakes and energy development operations.
“Oklahoma state agencies are already taking action to address this issue and protect homeowners,” Fallin said in a statement. She also announced a new state website devoted to sharing research, news and other information about earthquakes in the state.
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) didn't respond to a request for comment on the state findings.
-
Study Links Drilling to Earthquakes
Apr 23, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Devin Henry
Oil and gas drilling is responsible for small earthquakes at more than a dozen sites around the United States, the United States Geological Survey reported Thursday.
In a new study, the agency looked at a 17 areas within eight states that have seen increased seismic activity over the last few years. The report and its authors conclude that small earthquakes in those areas have been induced by oil and gas drilling operations.
“The hazard is high in these areas,” Mark Petersen, the head of the agency's mapping project, told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The report comes days after Oklahoma officials said that recent seismic activity there is likely caused by wastewater disposal associated with oil and gas drilling. Oklahoma sites were among those included in the report.
The report hedged on how to use drilling sites as a way to predict future earthquakes because, “seismicity does not occur near every disposal well, so it is important that we continue to study and learn more about these earthquakes are generated.”
On a whole, the Geological Survey acknowledged that, “although the disposal process has the potential to trigger earthquakes, most wastewater disposal wells do not produce felt earthquakes.”
The report says hydraulic fracturing is “only occasionally the direct cause of felt earthquakes.”
-
Hydrogel Could Green Up Fracking
Apr 23, 2015 | Chemical & Engineering News
By Stephen K. Ritter
Researchers have created a hydraulic fluid that transforms into an expandable hydrogel on interacting with carbon dioxide. The expansion process produces enough force to fracture rock. The hydrogel could reduce the amount of water and chemical additives required for hydraulic fracturing used to generate underground reservoirs for geothermal energy production or for oil and natural gas extraction.
The research paper reporting the promising technology, published in the journal Green Chemistry, has created a stir among scientists about whether fracking for oil and gas ought to ever be considered green.
A team led by Carlos A. Fernandez of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory developed the process, which would involve pumping an aqueous solution of polyallylamine into the ground followed by CO2. The CO2 interacts with the polymer’s amine groups and water to form a hydrogel that expands to more than twice its volume, creating pressure for fracking. The researchers showed that this expansion could break rock samples in the lab. Releasing the CO2 pressure or adding a weak acid breaks the hydrogel (Green Chem. 2015, DOI: 10.1039/c4gc01917b).
This switchable fluid builds on a range of green chemical systems developed over the past decade in which CO2 toggles the properties of solvents, surfactants, or catalysts back and forth to facilitate reactions and separations. The new fluid would use only a fraction of the water typically required for fracking, Fernandez and coworkers say, and it can be recovered and reused. In addition, the polymer has low toxicity and the amine groups function as a built-in biocide and corrosion inhibitor, which would reduce the number of additives normally included in fracking fluids.
“This paper is particularly strong in that the researchers evaluated the performance in rock at realistic conditions,” says Philip G. Jessop of Queen’s University, in Kingston, Ontario, whose group has helped lead development of the switchable chemistry concept.
“Fracking is understandably not well loved in the green chemistry community, and whether green chemistry can or should be brought to bear to decrease fracking’s impact is highly controversial,” Jessop adds. “The researchers give reasonable arguments for why their fluid would be green, but that point won’t be decided definitively until a cradle-to-grave life-cycle analysis is used to fully compare the environmental impacts with conventional fluids.”
Green Chemistry’s editorial board chair, Walter Leitner of RWTH Aachen University, in Germany, wrote an editorial to explain the editors’ dilemma on whether to publish the paper. “One may raise the fundamental question of whether an increased exploitation of fossil resources is inherently incompatible with the Principles of Green Chemistry,” Leitner writes.
The editors decided to give the paper the benefit of the doubt and forged ahead. The reviewers agreed that the authors’ work is sound and that the data presented might help lower the environmental impact of the fracking industry, Leitner explains.
“We need to continue our efforts to contribute with fundamentally new approaches to a sustainable chemical industry,” Leitner continues. “However, we also recognize that things are not always black or white and there are more than 50 shades of green.”
-
Policies Exist to Deal With Earthquake Risks Tied to Wastewater Injection, Lawmakers Told
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Alan Kovski
A Texas state regulator and a geology professor told a committee April 23 that policies and strategies exist for dealing with earthquake risks from oil and gas drilling and wastewater injection.
Oil and gas companies are expected to avoid drilling at geological fault lines, Texas Railroad Commission Chairman Christi Craddick told the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.
If a fault line is known, “we're not allowing drilling to occur in that fault,” Craddick testified. “We take that into account, as do companies. That's part of their risk assessment.”
Donald Siegel, a Syracuse University geology professor, told the committee the high-pressure injection of wastewater into disposal wells can cause earthquakes, although most of them are too faint for people to feel. Much of the injected wastewater comes from oil and gas wells, where highly saline water often rises to the surface along with hydrocarbons.
Siegel said a remedy probably is to use more disposal wells spread out over a larger area to reduce the volume and pressure within any given well. Recycling of wastewater also can reduce the need for disposal wells, he noted.
Quake Concerns Taken Seriously
The link between deep-well waste injection and seismicity has been known since the 1960s. An upsurge in seismic activity in Oklahoma and some other areas has raised concerns about earthquakes.
Those concerns shouldn't be dismissed as mere ignorance, said Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), ranking member of the science committee.
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), chairman of the committee, said the concerns often appear to be manipulated by activists who make claims based on possible rather than probable risks.
Craddick said concerns about seismicity are taken seriously. The Texas Railroad Commission, which has regulated oil and gas exploration and production for 90 years, hired a seismologist a year ago. Based on the seismologist's recommendation last year, the commission adjusted its rules on saltwater injection, she said.
The hearing was held shortly after the Oklahoma Geological Survey issued a report saying the majority of recent earthquakes recorded in that state probably resulted from the injection-well disposal of produced water from oil and gas wells (78 DEN A-18, 4/23/15).
Different Causes Cited for Tremors
The hearing April 23 discussed the potential for confusing oil and gas drilling impacts with wastewater disposal effects, as well as the possibility that naturally occurring earthquakes may be attributed to human activity, a point raised by Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.).
Hydraulic fracturing itself isn't known to be a cause of earthquakes, Craddick said. Her remark echoed what Obama administration officials and other state regulators have said about fracking and seismicity.
Fracking involves the pressurized injection of fluids, sand and chemical additives into geological layers to create cracks through which oil or gas can flow. It's estimated that more than a million wells, possibly as many as 1.5 million wells, have been fractured.
In the first week of April, earthquakes shook Irving, Texas, on the northwestern side of the Dallas metropolitan area. Craddick, in responding to Palmer, indicated she doubts oil and gas work caused the tremors in Irving.
“When you look at the history of Irving, it actually is an earthquake capital of Texas,” Craddick said. There is no oil and gas work going on there, she added.
-
USGS Releases Models for Predicting Earthquakes Linked to Wastewater Injection
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Tripp Baltz
The U.S. Geological Survey released a report April 23 outlining a preliminary set of models for predicting how often earthquakes are expected to occur in areas where seismic activity has been linked to the disposal of oil and gas wastewater deep underground.
The report examined an increase in seismicity that has occurred recently in the central and eastern U.S. Future research will incorporate data from the western states as well, it said.
The report includes models designed to calculate how often earthquakes are likely to occur in the next year and “how hard the ground will likely shake as a result,” the USGS said.
USGS scientists identified 17 areas within eight states—Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Texas—with increased rates of induced seismicity.
Oil- and gas-producing areas within the states have experienced substantial increases in seismicity since 2009, the report said.
Earthquakes Occurring at Higher Rate
“These earthquakes are occurring at a higher rate than ever before and pose a much greater risk to people living nearby,” said Mark Petersen, chief of the USGS National Seismic Hazard Modeling Project.
Oil and gas producers dispose of produced water and other by-product water from energy production by injecting it into deep wells at high pressure and in great volumes.
Wastewater injection increases the underground pore pressure, which may lubricate nearby faults, making earthquakes more likely, the USGS said.
The Oklahoma Geological Survey on April 21 said underground injection of wastewater from oil and gas activities is the most likely source of a roughly 600-fold increase in earthquakes in recent years, compared with the historical rate of such events.
The agency said in a statement that it's “very likely that the majority of earthquakes, particularly those in central and north-central Oklahoma, are triggered by the injection of produced water in disposal wells” (78 DEN A-18, 4/23/15).
-
Oil Companies Experiment With Turning Fracking Wastewater Into Geothermal Power
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Jeremy van Loon
Oil fracking companies seeking to improve their image and pull in a little extra cash are turning their wastewater into clean geothermal power, according to industry and academic sources.
For every barrel of oil produced from a well, there's another seven barrels of water, much of it boiling hot. Instead of letting it go to waste, some companies are planning to harness that heat to make electricity they can use or sell to the grid.
Companies such as Continental Resources Inc. and Hungary's MOL Group are getting ready to test systems that pump scalding-hot water through equipment that uses the heat to turn electricity-generating turbines before forcing it back underground to coax out more crude.
Although the technology has yet to be applied broadly, early results are promising, industry sources said. And if widely adopted, the environmental and financial benefits could be significant. Drillers in the U.S. process 25 billion gallons of water annually, enough to generate as much electricity as three coal-fired plants running around the clock—without carbon dioxide emissions.
“We can have distributed power throughout the oil patch,” said Will Gosnold, a researcher at the University of North Dakota who's leading Continental Resources’ project well.
Geothermal power also holds the promise of boosting the green credentials of companies involved in hydraulic fracturing after years of criticism for being the industry's worst polluters, says Lorne Stockman, research director at Oil Change International, an environmental organization that promotes non-fossil fuel energy.
“This is one way to make it look like the industry cares about the carbon issue,” he said. Even if steam generates less carbon than other oil field power sources, “if you're in the business of oil and gas, you're not part of the solution.”
Potential to Lower Costs
Then there's the money. With crude at less than $50 a barrel, every little bit can help lower costs. At projects like the one being tested by Continental Resources in North Dakota, a 250-kilowatt geothermal generator has the potential to contribute an extra $100,000 annually per well, according to estimates from the Energy Department.
That's not big money, and the $3.4 million Continental Resources is spending to test the technology is still too much to apply to each of its hundreds of wells. Yet if the company can lower the costs of the technology, it will not only generate electricity but also extend the economic life of wells, making them more profitable, said Greg Rowe, a production manager with Continental Resources.
Continental Resources's project began with the work of researchers at the University of North Dakota who were looking for ways to use geothermal resources from the thousands of wells being drilled in recent years, spurred on by new horizontal drilling technology. An existing relationship with the university triggered Continental Resources's interest in the project.
The team took off-the-shelf geothermal generators and hooked them to pipes carrying boiling wastewater. They're set to flip the switch any day. When they do, large pumps will drive the steaming water through the generators housed in 40-foot containers, producing electricity that could either be used on site or hooked up to power lines and sold to the electricity grid.
With $50-a-barrel oil testing producers’ ability to make money, Gosnold is convinced the idea will pay off if enough water can be pumped through the generators.
“The economics makes a lot of sense over the lifetime of a field,” he said.
-
Lawmakers Ask Interior to Expand Proposed Offshore Oil, Gas Leasing Program
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ari Natter
The Interior Department should increase the size of its proposed offshore oil and gas leasing plan, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and 162 other lawmakers said in a letter April 23.
The draft plan, released earlier this year, proposes 14 lease sales from 2017 to 2022, the smallest number of potential lease sales in the program's history.
“We fear that the currently proposed DPP sets the stage for energy insecurity instead of domestic prosperity,” said the letter, which was addressed to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. “We ask that you actually work with Congress on this important proposal.”
Specifically, the letter asked Jewell to lift “premature restrictions” placed on a potential lease to be held in the Atlantic and area withdrawals in the offshore of Alaska.
“We strongly encourage the Administration to make additional areas of the [Outer Continental Shelf] available for leasing and to increase the amount of lease sales from the historical low number proposed in the draft plan,” said the letter, which also was signed by Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.
While the Interior Department has interpreted a 1983 U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit case to mean the department can't add new lease sales or areas to the draft plan once it is proposed, analysts have said the leasing plan is likely to shrink further following public comment and other opportunities to narrow it down before it's finalized (76 DEN B-1, 4/21/15).
-
Oklahoma House Passes Legislation Aimed At Prohibiting, Detering Local Drilling Bans
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Paul Stinson
The Oklahoma House approved multiple pieces of legislation that would prohibit or deter local officials from banning oil and gas activities in their cities.
The move is seen by the bill's supporters as clarifying the regulatory landscape while environmental groups view it as an attack on local authority.
Passed April 22 in a 64-32 vote, the committee substitute for S.B. 809 would allow the state's oil and gas regulator—the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC)—to control regulations on oil and gas while giving municipalities latitude to establish “reasonable setbacks” provided that they do not prohibit drilling operations.
Authored by House Speaker Jeff Hickman (R) and Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman (R), the measure “allows a municipality or other political subdivision to enact certain rules related to oil and gas operations as long as they are consistent with Corporation Commission rules” and the Oklahoma statute governing oil and gas (Title 52),” according to an April 10 bill summary of the committee substitute.
Sierra Club: Measure Attacks Local Authority
“The fact that Representative Hickman claims this bill is nothing more than an attempt to ‘clarify some language’ is absolutely untrue,” Oklahoma Sierra Club Director Johnson Bridgwater told Bloomberg BNA in an April 22 e-mail.
“It clearly repeals existing statutory authority, Title 52.137— this is a major attack on local authority, not a ‘clarifying gesture,’ ” Bridgwater said.
The bill would repeal Section 137 of the Oklahoma statute governing oil and gas (Title 52). That statute gives cities and towns the authority to prevent oil and gas drilling.
On March 11, the Oklahoma House passed a similar measure—H.B. 2178—that would give exclusive jurisdiction over oil and gas operations—including exploration, drilling, fracture stimulation, production and plugging—to the OCC (58 DEN A-9, 3/26/15).
Chad Warmington, president of the Oklahoma Oil and Gas Association, told Bloomberg BNA April 23 the bills would clarify the roles of the cities and counties.
“Certainly they play an important part in protecting and regulating development in their municipalities and counties,” he said. “But where they don't play a role is when it comes to the regulation of the oil and gas industry.”
That's the purview of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, he said.
A March 12 statement from Hickman's office hailed the measure as providing certainty for the energy industry while clarifying regulatory authority.
The bill now goes to the Senate for final approval before being sent to Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R). The Senate approved an earlier version of the bill March 11.
Local Ordinances Potentially Deemed as Taking
The Oklahoma House also passed April 22 in a 63-30 vote a measure (S. B. 468) requiring municipalities or counties to pay mineral owners affected by an action of local government.
Authored by state Sen. Bryce Marlatt (R), chair of the Senate Energy Committee, the measure requires that a local government's adoption or implementation of an ordinance that adversely impacts the use and development of minerals by “substantially increasing the costs of the oil and gas operations, or thereby substantially reducing the fair market value of the mineral estate” would be considered a taking.
The Senate approved the bill March 12 by a 37 to 4 vote.
That legislation is seen as a “threat” against cities and towns to deter them from “enacting any ordinances with real teeth,” Sierra Club's Bridgwater told Bloomberg BNA in March.
A message seeking comment from Speaker Hickman's office was not returned.
-
Apr 23, 2015 | PoliticoPro
By Darren Goode & Elana Schor
For all the political drama is has inspired, the Keystone XL pipeline is just a “blip” compared with the larger need to modernize the nation’s aging, inadequate energy infrastructure, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Thursday.
Moniz told POLITICO in an interview at the IHS CERAWeek Conference that his Energy Department staff and Republican aides on Capitol Hill have been working together “for quite a while because they are interested in a bipartisan and Congress-administration discussion about infrastructure bills that are a lot more comprehensive than Keystone.”
“No matter what the decision of Keystone is, it is one blip on the big picture of the energy infrastructure challenges,” he added. “I mean, I don’t want to minimize it, but I don’t want to maximize it either.”
Moniz’s portrayal of Keystone — similar to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy’s recent comment that the project by itself would not be a “disaster” for the climate — runs counter to the message that opponents of the $8 billion heavy oil pipeline have pushed for years: that the project’s approval or rejection by President Barack Obama is a make-or-break moment for the U.S. energy mix.
Green groups contend that killing Keystone would send a powerful message that the administration plans to consider the climate change impact of major fossil-fuel infrastructure that the oil and gas industry has long seen as a political bank shot. But as Moniz tackles the nation’s infrastructure challenges, it’s not just Republicans hammering home the message that Obama could help solve at least some of those woes by approving TransCanada’s long-sought pipeline project connecting Alberta oil sands to Texas refineries.
Canadian Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford brought up Keystone here Wednesday, both publicly on stage at the conference and in a private meeting with Moniz.
“I never miss an opportunity to raise it with him in some way, shape, form or another,” Rickford told reporters after his public panel talk with Moniz and Mexican Energy Minister Pedro Joaquin Coldwell.
“But this is a $140 billion energy relationship between our two countries,” Rickford said, adding he is “way more positive about this relationship” with Moniz than suggested by “the issue side of it.”
Moniz said Rickford “knows it’s not my responsibility to make the decision” on Keystone, which remains under review by the State Department because it would cross an international border.
Beyond the six-year controversy over Keystone, DOE and the Transportation Department are “very active collaborators” on research aimed at improving oversight of fuel shipped by rail as well as pipelines, particularly the light crude gushing forth from North Dakota and Texas that has raised questions about whether such shale oil is inherently more volatile after a year of frequent fuel-train accidents.
“The very bounty that we have is putting a big strain on infrastructure,” Moniz told POLITICO, emphasizing the “need to monitor and expand” that network, “particularly in the hydrocarbon sector.”
DOE and its partners at DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration are “analyzing the characteristics of tight oil and trying to understand something that’s never been challenged,” Moniz said. “What are the characteristics of petroleum that lead to volatility? That lead to, perhaps — I’m not saying, we don’t have the answer — perhaps enhanced risk of combustion and an accident?”
Researchers are also asking, Moniz noted, if the light crude shipped by rail to the tune of 1 million barrels a day last year is raising volatility concerns simply because “there’s more of it.”
He declined to comment on the overall pipeline safety record at PHMSA, described by a POLITICO investigation this week as a regulator paralyzed by its own internal culture and chronic underfunding. “Now, clearly, we have to have oversight that keeps up with the changing times,” Moniz said more generally.
-
At the Super Bowl of Energy, the Big Game Is on the Sidelines
Apr 23, 2015 | National Journal
By Ben Geman
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz gave two sets of remarks on Wednesday night at a big energy conference here.The first, a panel discussion with his counterparts from Mexico and Canada, was open to journalists and all attendees at the annual IHS CERAWeek gathering. The second, a conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning energy historian and CERA founder Daniel Yergin, was at a closed-door dinner with energy-industry officials and experts.
Attendees were urged to keep it off the record, but several guests said Moniz broached the nuclear talks with Iran (in which he has been a key player); crude-oil export policy; emerging technologies like small modular nuclear reactors and 3-D printing; energy efficiency; and more.
The events just a few hours apart at the upscale Hilton Americas-Houston highlight the concentric circles of access and exclusivity at the annual conference, where roughly 2,500 attendees from 50-plus nations pay as much as $7,750 per head. Major energy companies, banks, trade groups, and others pay undisclosed sums for "partnership" opportunities. Milling about are around 240 reporters, according to organizers. CNBC set up a mini-studio in the hotel for interviews.
The Obama administration uses the week to make its case before industries, on their turf, that are wary and sometimes downright hostile to White House energy and climate policies. Along with Moniz, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, and State Department climate-change envoy Todd Stern all attended.
McCarthy promoted EPA's carbon-emissions rules for power plants, while Jewell met with a group of CEOs from independent oil companies in addition to giving a speech and press conference.
Yergin, chatting with a couple of reporters Wednesday night after the dinner with Moniz, described CERAWeek as "multiple conferences going on at the same time," and likened it to an energy-specific version of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
There's the outward-facing part of the conference, with a bonanza of serious—and mostly industry-centric—sessions on the future of global energy, unfolding this year as the oil-price collapse has put the industry on tougher footing.
But not all of the action is in the Texas-sized ballrooms. There is an exclusive "partner and member lounge," where a police guard restricts access, and there are closed-door briefings aplenty given by experts at IHS CERA.
Evenings bring private, invite-only receptions by companies that help sponsor the conference. On Tuesday night, for instance, guests at the reception in ConocoPhillips's "hospitality suite" munched on pulled beef short ribs on mascarpone.
Nearby, the suite of Argentinian energy giant YPF had its own invite-only reception with a selection of home-country wines. (It's not as if the media starves either; a lunch spread for reporters on Wednesday included charbroiled flank steak and rotisserie chicken.)
Monday, Senate Energy Committee Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski drew plenty of coverage when she announced that she's finally pressing ahead with her long-planned bill to lift restrictions on crude-oil exports. Also Monday, she and her fellow Alaska Republican, Sen. Dan Sullivan, discussed a planned Alaska gas-export project with officials from BP, Exxon, and ConocoPhillips.
Moniz met with government energy officials from the U.K., Ukraine, and Australia, as well as with his Canadian and Mexican counterparts.
The Canadian government has officials here seeking to drum up more business in that nation's oil-and-gas sector. "This is the place to do it," Greg Rickford, Canada's natural resources minister, told reporters. He's making the case for investment in Canada onstage, but also in meetings including a "roundtable" he's doing with "key CEOs" here Thursday.
The many pieces of the conference that are open to all make it a huge draw too. CEOs of Exxon, BP, Statoil, Total, and other huge oil-and-gas producers, and the chiefs of pipeline giant Enbridge, the LNG company Cheniere, and the big coal company Peabody, to name just a few, all took the stage.
One attendee and former CERA official says the conference is unusual in that both the speakers and the side-meetings are an equal draw.
"It is almost unique in that there are a lot of [other] events that people come to for the networking and the sessions are almost on the side, others where people just go for the content. This is one where people come for both. It's rare that you don't come away from a session having learned something new," said David Hobbs, head of researchers at Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center, and a former CERA official.
As for Yergin, he embraces the atmosphere created in Houston.
"People tell me that this conference will save them six to eight weeks of travel," he said. "They don't have to fly across many time zones to meet people.
"I assume that here people are certainly talking about business relations," he added. "It is not part of what the conference does, but the conference is a venue, a location for that."
-
Baker Signals Support for Expanded Pipeline in New England
Apr 23, 2015 | The Boston Globe
By Jay Fitzgerald
Governor Charlie Baker on Thursday sent a strong signal to other New England governors that his administration is behind coordinated efforts to upgrade the region’s natural gas pipeline system and import large amounts of hydroelectricity from Quebec to help ease skyrocketing energy prices.
Baker’s move, coming at an energy summit of New England governors in Hartford, represents a shift in tone from his Democratic predecessor, Deval Patrick, who favored developing renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, to address the region’s high energy costs and occasional shortages of natural gas.
Last year, Patrick and his administration backed away from an agreement among New England governors to seek federal tariffs on the region’s natural gas and electric customers to pay for expansions of natural gas pipelines, electric transmission lines, and other improvements to the regional energy system.
Patrick said the state needed more time to study its options, but the move disappointed other New England governors, who argued the delay threatened the region’s economic competitiveness.
At a news conference following the meeting at the Connecticut Convention Center, Baker, a Republican, said he has always supported a regional approach to lowering energy costs in New England, which has some of the highest natural gas and electricity prices in the nation. Baker said he favors an “all options approach” that promotes renewable energy while emphasizing the need to expand the region’s system of natural gas pipelines and electric transmission facilities.
Several billion dollars in pipeline and transmission projects have been proposed to help the region tap abundant supplies of natural gas from Eastern states and hydroelectricity from Canada. But those proposals have run into fierce opposition from environmentalists and property owners concerned about safety, damage to natural areas, and climate change.
Baker did not embrace any of the specific projects proposed by pipeline and transmission companies, but he did signal that he favors a plan led by Spectra Energy Corp., of Houston, to expand the existing Algonquin pipeline. He would not say whether he supports a more controversial plan by a Texas company, Kinder Morgan Inc., to build a new pipeline across Western Massachusetts, through Southern New Hampshire, and into Dracut.
Baker said he has asked the state Department of Public Utilities to review all natural gas pipeline options for Massachusetts. Approval of the projects, however, is up to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; states do not have jurisdiction over interstate transmission and pipelines.
Governor Paul LePage of Maine, a Republican, was critical of Massachusetts’s energy policies under Patrick, but praised Baker. “He’s more collaborative and more open-minded, rather than being held hostage by an ideology,” LePage said of Baker after a joint news conference
Though Baker has signaled that he is willing to cooperate with other states to forge a regional energy policy, it may be easier said than done. Matthew Beaton, Baker’s secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, acknowledged that not all the states agree on specific policies. For instance, New Hampshire and Vermont are not keen on incurring costs for new transmission lines through their states in order to transport Quebec’s hydroelectricity to Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
The “basic agreement” between the five governors is that each state will pass the necessary rules and laws to promote energy improvements within its borders. That would set the stage for New England governors to collaborate on major interstate projects, Beaton said. The governors plan to hold another meeting on energy this fall.
The governors face other obstacles to new regional policies; chief among them is opposition by environmentalists and residents to new natural gas and transmission line projects.
Protesters disrupted a forum at the energy summit, shouting that state leaders were merely “coordinating climate catastrophe.”
“The governors are all in collusion,” said David Ludlow, a Jamaica Plain resident and a member of the No Pipeline Expansion Coalition, before he and other activists were escorted from the room by security.
But outside the convention Center, members of the Laborers’ New England Region Organizing Fund parked a truck with electronic signs blaring messages such as “Pipelines are lifelines.”
Many unions support new pipelines and transmission lines because of the trade jobs they could generate.
-
Controls Available to Reduce Oil Well Flaring
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
Cost-effective controls exist to reduce flaring at tight oil wells in Texas and North Dakota, the Clean Air Task Force said in a report released April 23. Flaring from oil wells in the Bakken formation in North Dakota and the Eagle Ford formation in Texas has increased from 200,000 barrels a day in 2007 to 3.1 million barrels a day in 2015, but controls are available to minimize flaring and capture that natural gas for sale, according to the report. Controls such as natural gas liquid recover, which separates out heavier hydrocarbons such as propane and butane from natural gas allowing them to be transported as liquids; the trucking of compressed natural gas to processing plants; and using captured gas to serve electricity demand at production sites have all proven to be viable control methods, the report said. The report is available at http://www.catf.us/resources/publications/files/Flaring_Report.pdf.
-
Carbon ‘Blueprint’ Shows Risks From Not Preparing for Cheap Fuel
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Justin Doom
Oil and natural gas companies that fail to consider the risks of a warmer planet and cheaper fossil fuels are jeopardizing shareholder value, according to a report by Carbon Tracker Initiative and Energy Transition Advisors.
“Senior management is overly focused on demand and price scenarios that assume business as usual,” Paul Spedding, an adviser to London-based Carbon Tracker and co-author of its Blueprint report, said in a statement April 23. “There may be a risk assessment ‘gap’ between a management's view of the future and that resulting from action on climate change, technological advances and changing economic assumptions.”
Properly assessing the risks associated with a major global energy transition are “critical to ensure value is preserved,” Carbon Tracker found. High-cost investments in extracting fuel from oil sands, deep ocean waters and the Arctic “are at a significant risk of not making an acceptable return,” it added.
Investors are taking notice. Last week, 98 percent of BP Plc shareholders supported a measure asking for regular reports on the effects of climate change on company strategy (74 DEN A-7, 4/17/15).
Royal Dutch Shell Plc is considering a similar measure, according to Carbon Tracker, a nonprofit research company established in 2009.
“Carbon Tracker's focus is and has always been on the financial implications of an energy transition,” Chief Executive Officer Anthony Hobley said. “The overarching theme of our analysis has been to improve shareholder value whilst lowering risk.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Justin Doom in New York at jdoom1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net; Will Wade, Carlos Caminada
-
House Energy and Commerce Committee To Release Efficiency Portion of Energy Bill
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Ari Natter
The House Energy and Commerce Committee plans to soon release sections of comprehensive energy legislation relating to energy efficiency and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the committee said in a statement April 23.
The energy efficiency section will focus on increasing the efficiency of the federal government through improved technologies and energy-performance contracting, promote greater energy savings in products and buildings and reduce the compliance costs and burdens on manufacturers of energy-efficient technologies, the committee said.
The portion of the bill related to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the nation's emergency stockpile of crude oil, aims to “modernize” the reserve in the face of changing global energy markets and increasing domestic oil production, the committee said.
“Modernizing our strategic energy reserves and advancing energy efficiency are critical to achieving a stronger and more secure energy future. A modern SPR will ensure that we can effectively respond during national emergencies, and by improving energy efficiency, we can meet our energy demands while reducing waste and costs for taxpayers, ” Reps. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), the committee chairman, and Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), chairman of the Energy and Power Subcommittee, said in a statement.
Both draft bills will be the subject of a hearing scheduled for April 30 by the subcommittee.
The hearing comes as the committee prepares broad energy legislation, which it hopes to bring to the floor later this year. Other parts of the bill will include sections on infrastructure and “energy diplomacy,” according to a framework document released by Republican committee leaders earlier this year.
A draft portion of the legislation centered on building a workforce related to the energy industry was made public April 21 (77 DEN A-16, 4/22/15).
-
McCarthy: EPA Clean Power Plan Deadline Might Be Delayed to Avoid Electricity Outages
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Nushin Huq
The EPA would push out the 2020 interim deadline for the Clean Power Plan if necessary to protect the reliability of the nation's electricity, Administrator Gina McCarthy said in Houston during the IHS Energy CERAweek conference.
“There's a lot of opportunities for us to address any reliability concerns that might arise that the utilities have raised,” the head of the Environmental Protection Agency told reporters April 23. “There's many ways we can take a look at that 2020 timeline, and make adjustments in many different ways. That could allow it to continue as 2020 or allow it to be pushed out.”
Among the 3.9 million comments received regarding the plan, known as the 111D rule, some are from utilities and states that express concern that states will not be able to meet the interim goals set forth. McCarthy said the EPA has read those comments and is reviewing its goals.
“I'm not going to tip my hand on what the final rule will look like, but we certainly have paid attention to the comments that have come in,” McCarthy said.
NERC Concerns
McCarthy addressed the conference a couple of days after the North American Electric Reliability Corp., or NERC, a nonprofit that assures adequate voltage and power reserves, asked the EPA to delay the 2020 deadline to prevent blackouts.
“Reliability is a high priority for all of us, so it's good we're discussing it,” McCarthy said. “Let me be very clear about this. There is absolutely no scenario, no standard, no compliance strategy that I will accept where reliability comes into question. Period.”
The EPA is looking at the stringency, timing and phasing-in of the rule and stands ready to make appropriate adjustments, McCarthy told the conference attendees.
“The final 111D rule will give you the time and space you need to take a reliability-first approach because that is in line with your long-term planning, and planning the states need to do to ensure they are moving and taking advantage of a low-carbon future.”
By 2020, there will still be a significant portion of energy coming from coal; 30 percent is expected, McCarthy said.
“This plan has a place for every type of energy,” McCarthy said. “The EPA is not an energy policy agency; we are a carbon-reducing agency.”
Economic Impacts
McCarthy took issue with industry claims of economic harms that will result if the plan goes into effect. She criticized some studies, such as one that assumed a growth rate for energy demand of 1.9 percent per year instead of the Energy Information Administration's estimate of 0.4 percent.
“Let's not waste time and energy worrying about finding a doomsday scenario to focus on that simply will not happen,” McCarthy said. “I just don't want to see those noses continue to grow.”
She added: “No peer-reviewed economic literature, no historical record, comes close to supporting the claims of massive job losses from reducing pollution. In EPA's 45-year history, we've cut air pollution 70 percent while GDP has tripled.
“The Clean Power Plan lines up with the global trajectory towards a low-carbon future,” McCarthy said. “It will help send a long-term market signal that will enhance the investments that you in this room have already been making.”
-
Obama and the Environment: Clean Power or Power Play?
Apr 24, 2015 | The Hill - Congress Blog
By Richard O. Faulk
Recently, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals heard one of the strangest cases ever argued in a federal appellate court – a seemingly esoteric controversy that, in any other context, might be relegated to obscurity. But since winning this case is the linchpin President Obama needs to win the “War Against Coal,” the EPA has staked everything on pulling an oversized rabbit out of a very small hat.
Cue State of West Virginia v. EPA and Murray Energy v. EPA, two joined cases comprising the first challenge to the president’s recent efforts to cement his climate change legacy. Fifteen states, along with select coal companies, have sued for an “extraordinary writ” to prevent the EPA from promulgating new carbon regulations set to be finalized this summer.
This legal imbroglio began with the president’s desire to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from coal-fired electrical power plants. CO2 is the principal “greenhouse gas” blamed for global warming. As such, it is now the focus of the most aggressive EPA action under the Clean Air Act since its passage decades ago.
Last year, as part of the president’s proposed Clean Power Plan, the EPA began drafting rules expected to force states to curb emissions within a year – an onerous burden, as the states involved in Thursday’s challenge will likely agree. But it is also dubious from a federalism standpoint. The EPA claims the right to regulate emission concentrations “beyond the fence line” – without restricting its inquiries to amounts actually emitted from power plants. Thus, its authority would extend beyond power generators to consider dispatch and retail demand, areas historically regulated by the states, and not the federal government.
Beyond this unprecedented regulatory preemption of state authority lies an even greater and more dangerous overreach. The EPA’s argument confidently hinges on convincing the courts that the Clean Air Act doesn’t mean what it says. By its plain language, the bill prohibits the EPA from regulating the power plants from which these emissions derive. Moreover, coal plants are already addressed under an entirely different section of the bill than the one EPA insists justifies its new powers.
Under a less ambitious administration, that would be the end of the controversy. Instead, the EPA identified one of the most unusual Congressional oversights in American history to prove its position.
As the result of a “drafting error,” Congress actually passed two versions of the provision at issue, 111(d) – one which prohibits the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases from coal-fired power plants, and one which permits such regulation. The prohibitive version was published in the United States Code, while the permissive one was printed elsewhere. With a regulatory “sleight of hand,” the EPA now claims its right to a “deferential” interpretation of the Clean Air Act, and argues that the more permissive section should be applied.
If the EPA’s argument prevails, the consequences cannot be overstated. In spite of a lack of clear statutory authorization, this unelected body could take complete command of energy production and the manner by which it is used throughout the United States. Major components of our economy that have never before been affected by EPA regulation or the Clean Air Act may be subjected to its regulatory authority.
At least the Affordable Care Act was passed by Congress. Here, this vast new scheme has sprung full-grown from the president’s imagination.
Fortunately, the D.C. Circuit, and ultimately the Supreme Court, can still prevent this imperial power grab. Less than a year ago, in reviewing the scope of the EPA’s regulatory capabilities on greenhouse gases, the High Court expressed a “measure of skepticism” when the EPA discovered an “unheralded power to regulate” a “significant portion of the American economy.” The Court warned that it “expect[s] Congress to speak clearly if it wishes to assign to an agency decisions of ‘vast economic and political significance.’” To say the least, Congress has not done so here.
Obama, through his EPA, is acting beyond the scope of his authority – a persistent symptom that threatens the Constitutional separation and balance of powers that has protected our liberties since our Republic was founded. It is time, indeed past time, for our nation’s courts to pay heed and, echoing Chief Justice Marshall, once again stress “it is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.” Such a rebuke will remind the President that, despite his immense power, he cannot govern our democracy with imaginative strokes of his pen.
-
Power Rule Won't Harm Grid Reliability -- McCarthy
Apr 24, 2015 | E&E News PM
By Jean Chemnick
U.S. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy told energy executives in Houston today that the Clean Power Plan wouldn't harm grid reliability.
Delivering a keynote address at IHS CERAWeek, McCarthy told executives from industries that would be regulated under the power plant rule that EPA has taken care not to disrupt their ability to deliver electricity to the public.
"Let me be clear: There is no scenario I will accept where reliability comes into question. Period," she said in prepared remarks.
EPA is reviewing its proposed rule now ahead of issuing a final standard this summer, and McCarthy said again that issues like the stringency of state targets, the rate at which reduction requirements phase in and the "glide path" showing early progress are all on the table.
"And we can look at unit-by-unit reliability directly, too," she said.
The final rule, McCarthy said, "will give you the time and space you need to take a reliability-first approach that's in line with your long-term planning and gives you the latitude to adapt as market demands change."
McCarthy's remarks come after the North American Electric Reliability Corp. issued an assessment Tuesday that determined that the Clean Power Plan presents grid reliability concerns that warrant a delay in implementation (Greenwire, April 21).
The assessment has already gained traction as a Republican talking point, with lawmakers charging that it should lead EPA to abandon the rule. But the agency called the assessment "premature," as it has yet to finalize the standard and states have yet to say how they will comply with it.
McCarthy told energy executives they shouldn't see the rule as "a liability or cost." The agency built its standard to track with investment decisions that utilities are already making in transitioning to lower carbon technologies, she said.
"EPA's rule does not seek to swim against the current," she said. "It's wind in our sails."
And strategies to bring down emissions -- especially through efficiency improvements -- can "double as investments that return value for your operations as they evolve over time," she said.
-
Interim Goal for EPA Clean Power Plan Is Unattainable, Texas Commissioners Say
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Nushin Huq
Texas has a strong track record when it comes to regulating the power sector, but the interim goal in the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan is cause for concern, Texas regulators said April 23 at the IHS Energy CERAWeek conference in Houston.
“The cloud on the horizon is a whole range of environmental rules that will be challenging depending on what happens in the courts or in the final rules,” Kenneth Anderson, commissioner of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, said.
From 2013, Texas has seen a 24 percent decrease in ozone levels, while the rest of the country saw a 12 percent reduction, Toby Baker, commissioner of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, said. He outlined other emission reductions in the state, including a 9 percent reduction in carbon dioxide.
“I say this because with all the new regulations out there that are coming down the pipe right now, we've done all this without those regulations,” Baker said. “We don't always need the invisible hand of the government.”
The regulators said their biggest concern about the Clean Power Plan is the interim goal for the state is not feasible.
The EPA rules would require Texas to cut its utility emissions rate, which averaged 1,298 pounds per megawatt-hour for 2012, to an average of 853 lb/MW-hr for the period 2020-2029, and to 791 lb/MW-hr after 2030, according to an agency Clean Power Plan website. Those cuts are 34 percent and 39 percent, respectively.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas predicted that half of the coal-fired utility fleet in Texas could be retired as a result of new EPA regulations, such as the cross-state air pollution rule, the regional haze rule and the proposed Clean Power Plan. ERCOT is the independent system operator that manages the power grid for three-fourths of the state, according to the council's website.
ERCOT forecasts always predict that four years or five years out the state will have a problem with reserve margins, Anderson said. That's a natural occurrence of an energy-only market.
Problem Seen in Timing of Retirement
“The challenge with the retirement of coal plants will be the timing,” Anderson said. “You can build a coal plant in Texas [depending on the type of plant] from nine months to 40 months.”
The biggest concern about the Clean Power Plan is the timing, Anderson said. While the state can build transmission lines fairly quickly, it still took about 10 years to build the competitive renewable energy zone projects, or CREZ.
“The timing of the interim goal [in the Clean Power Plan] is completely nonsensical,” Anderson said. “You can't do it by 2020.”
No TCEQ Authority
One of the challenges with the Clean Power Plan, Baker said, is that the TCEQ only has authority to regulate one of the four building blocks laid out in the plan.
“We don't have the authority to go in to force people to switch fuel,” Baker said. “We don't have the authority to tell people to build renewables, and we don't have the authority to go in and tell people to increase energy efficiency. Everything we do is inside the fence.”
There's a gap between what the Clean Power Plan says the state needs to do and how it achieves that, Baker said.
“There will need to be some sort of melding with our authority with the [Public Utility Commission] and ERCOT,” Baker said. “What we would need is clear directions from our elected officials on how that looks, because there's not a regulatory agency in the state of Texas that can do what it asks us to do.”
Carbon Price Would Let Market Operate
The easiest way to meet the goals set by the Clean Power Plan is to put a price on carbon, Steve Schleimer, vice president of government and regulatory affairs for Calpine Corp., said during the panel discussion.
“If that's the end goal … to reduce carbon,” Schleimer said, “price it, put it into the market.”
Generators can see the price and add it to their costs—that's how to get the most cost-effective reductions, and it's consistent across states, he said. All the other means, such as standards, are much more inefficient, Schleimer said.
Even without the rules, natural gas is becoming more popular in Texas, Anderson said.
“It will become less and less marginal units and become the unit,” Anderson said.
Besides the price of natural gas, natural gas plants are more flexible and can ramp down easier when wind generators are producing electricity, Schleimer said.
Many Coal-Fired Plants Seasonal
A lot of coal plants are seasonal now and only run in the summer. These plants are also older and will require upgrades, Anderson said. Given the costs of the upgrades and the average life of a coal plant, it might not make economic sense to make those upgrades.
With all the new regulations coming from the EPA, including the new methane rules, Baker said he hasn't seen any permit requests for new coal plants.
“My guess is I'm not going to see any new requests until CCS makes sense,” Baker said, referring to carbon capture and sequestration. “We in a new gas and renewable world.”
-
EPA Won't Release Ozone Standard, State Guidelines at Same Time
Apr 23, 2015 | E&E News PM
By Amanda Peterka
U.S. EPA is unlikely to release state implementation rules at the same time it picks a final ozone standard, agency officials said yesterday.
EPA has proposed tightening the national standard for ozone, a key ingredient of smog, from 75 parts per billion to between 65 and 70 ppb. The agency is under a court-ordered deadline to choose a final standard by Oct. 1.
"It's not going to be realistic ... or necessarily the best thing to have everything come out at once," EPA acting air chief Janet McCabe said about the implementation guidelines.
The announcement was among details that EPA officials revealed at a meeting of its Clean Air Act Advisory Committee about how they plan to put in place a potentially tighter standard.
Several state regulatory groups, as well as industry stakeholders, have requested that the agency put out rules laying out how to meet a tighter standard either at the same time or shortly after it chooses the final number.
They've pointed to EPA's delay in issuing the implementation rules for the current standard. EPA set the standard in 2008 but didn't finalize a rule for state requirements until earlier this year (E&ENews PM, Feb. 17).
"EPA should commit to, and follow through on, proposing the implementation rule for the revised ozone standards at the same time it issues the final revised standards and issuing the final implementation rule within one year following such proposal," the National Association of Clean Air Agencies said. "It is imperative that development of the implementation rule and any related guidance be done in close collaboration with state and local air agencies."
At yesterday's meeting, McCabe called the release of implementation rules for the potential new 2015 ozone standard a "high priority" and pledged to release them in a timely manner.
"While I'm not sure that we can meet everybody's, or some people's, expectations that we have an implementation rule ready when the final rule goes out, there's just a lot of reasons why that just is very, very difficult and may not even be appropriate to do," she said. "We are trying to provide a guidance and rules in as timely a way as possible."
Anna Wood, director of the air policy division at EPA's Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, noted that this would be the third eight-hour ozone standard issued under the Clean Air Act, suggesting that EPA and stakeholders should already have an idea of what implementation would entail.
The recently released implementation rule for the 2008 standard, she said, should guide states on what they would be expected to do to put in place a potential new standard. The rule laid out the deadlines for states with areas that don't meet the standard to address ground-level ozone, as well as established control technologies, emissions inventory requirements and processes for areas to demonstrate compliance.
"We expect this implementation rule to kind of serve as a blueprint for any implementation rule under a 2015 revised standard," Wood said. "The approaches over time -- and litigation and just knowing what flexibility we do and don't have -- have pretty much settled down."
Wood also noted that EPA, while focused now on picking a final standard, has already offered some guidance on how states should address certain aspects of it.
She pointed to the suite of options that EPA laid out when it released the rule for how states could address violations of the standard that are caused by high background events out of their control (Greenwire, Dec. 1, 2014).
-
Scientists Explain Why Arctic Matters As U.S. Readies to Chair Regional Council
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Andrea Vittorio
The nation's scientific community wants you to know that what happens in the Arctic doesn't stay in the Arctic.
Rapid changes in the region could have implications for sea level rise on U.S. coastlines and elsewhere, global greenhouse gas emissions, the fish sticks in your freezer and maybe even our weather, according to a new booklet from the National Research Council.
The booklet, released April 17, is meant to provide a primer on Arctic issues for policy makers, educators and the general public as the U.S. prepares to chair the Arctic Council for the next two years. The current chair, Canada, will hand the reins over to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at an April 24-25 meeting in the Canadian town of Iqaluit.
While the State Department is working on its own public diplomacy push, researchers, museums and universities are also using the Arctic Council chairmanship as an opportunity to make more Americans care about a region that few understand, but about which more people are becoming curious (49 DEN A-9, 3/13/15).
The Arctic is receiving more attention as climatic changes open up new opportunities for shipping, fishing, tourism and oil and gas exploration.
Misconceptions About Arctic
Still, there are a number of misconceptions about the Arctic, according to Fran Ulmer, who chairs the U.S. Arctic Research Commission.
“For those of us who either live in or work with Arctic issues, I think there's a newly realized responsibility to reach out and try to increase the level of understanding and fill in the gaps and maybe even address some of the misconceptions,” Ulmer, also a special adviser to the State Department on Arctic science and policy, told Bloomberg BNA.
One common misconception is that “the Arctic is just a big wasteland” that lacks resources, people, functional ecosystems and productivity, she said. In reality, people have lived in the Arctic for millennia, and today the region is home to 4 million people. Meanwhile, waters immediately south of the Arctic Circle are responsible for about half of the U.S. fish catch.
Another misconception is that there is a race to reach oil resources, with countries fighting over ownership of the oil, Ulmer said. The Arctic is home to 13 percent of the world's remaining oil reserves.
“Is there really a fight going on up there?” she said. “There really isn't.”
What is the Arctic Council?
There seems to be even less understanding about the Arctic Council.
About half of Alaskans have never heard of it, according to a public opinion survey commissioned in 2013 by the Institute of the North. Another, more recent poll from the institute and the Munk-Gordon Arctic Security Program showed that the council is little recognized even among Canadians, who are currently chairing the council.
The council was formed in 1996 as a point of coordination on sustainable development and environmental protection among the eight nations that border the Arctic, including the U.S. The chairmanship rotates among the eight nations.
The work of the council has traditionally focused on scientific assessments related to the Arctic. More recently, it has stepped into the policy arena by establishing a permanent secretariat and issuing its first legally binding agreement, covering search and rescue operations.
Changing Arctic Landscape
One of the issues topping the agenda for the U.S. chairmanship is climate change, which is rapidly reshaping the Arctic region (232 DEN A-6, 12/3/14).
Temperatures in the Arctic are warming twice as fast as the global average, melting both sea ice and land ice.
As the snow and ice shrinks—which normally reflects sunlight—and is replaced by darker tundra and water, the Arctic absorbs more heat. More heat means more melting, so the cycle starts again in what scientists call a feedback loop.
Thawing permafrost, or permanently frozen ground, could make things even worse as vast stores of greenhouse gas emissions are released (74 DEN A-10, 4/17/15).
One reason why all these changes in the Arctic matter—which may be easiest for the average American to care about—is weather.
Link to ‘Weird’ Weather?
Because temperatures in the Arctic are rising so quickly, the temperature difference between that region and areas farther south is becoming less pronounced. Normally, that temperature difference is what drives the jet stream, which is responsible for most of the weather in the U.S.
With a weakened jet stream, weather patterns tend to get stuck. Some scientists think the cold snap that hit the eastern U.S. this winter and the very warm and dry conditions on the West Coast may be examples of what happens when the jet stream weakens.
“It's really taken me by surprise how amazingly interested people are in this linkage,” Jennifer Francis, a Rutgers University professor who helped come up with the idea, told Bloomberg BNA.
She said average Americans who have been noticing “how weird the weather's been” want to read her research, but so do insurance companies, the World Bank and others because more extreme weather could influence food and water supplies, as well as potential economic damages from storms.
Francis said it's also been a “great conversation starter” for helping people understand that “climate change is not just this gradual warming that's going to happen sometime in the distant future.”
“It's already happening, and it's already changing people's lives,” she said.
Contributing to Sea Level Rise
Another way lives are being affected by changes in the Arctic is through sea level rise.
Melting ice in both the Arctic and Antarctic is contributing to sea level rise globally. The sea level has risen about 8 inches since 1901, and scientists project an additional 1 to 4 feet of rise by 2100, according to the National Research Council report.
“It's going to take less and less of a storm, of a hurricane, or even a strong nor'easter, to cause a lot of coastal erosion and coastal damage as sea level rises,” Julie Brigham-Grette, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, told Bloomberg BNA. “Less and less of a storm will do the equivalent of what happened in Hurricane Sandy, for example.”
Hurricane Sandy's price tag was in the billions of dollars.
“This is all expensive, so we're going to need to get ourselves organized as to how we're going to manage our coastlines in the coming decades,” said Brigham-Grette, who also chairs the Polar Research Board. The board, part of the NRC, provides information on the Arctic and Antarctic to federal agencies, Congress and the public.
‘More Than Eskimos and Polar Bears.'
The general public may be the hardest audience to reach, but that's where the Smithsonian Institution comes in.
“Other than researchers, the general attitude about the Arctic is: What is it? Where is it? What's going on?” William Fitzhugh, director of the Arctic Studies Center at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., said. “They have heard about polar bears, but the rest is pretty much lost on the general public.”
To raise awareness, the museum is holding a festival in May that will feature films, cultural and musical performances, and other family-friendly events focused on the Arctic.
Fitzhugh said the event won't go into the “nitty gritty” of Arctic science, but it will try to explain why the Arctic is changing and how it is affecting the animals and people who live there.
“It's more than Eskimos and polar bears,” he told Bloomberg BNA. “It's a whole way of life that's changing.”
-
Schatz Confident Obama Climate Agenda To Survive Congressional Assault on Authority
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Anthony Adragna & Dean Scott
Senate Democrats are preparing for the “next legislative fight” on climate change—defending President Barack Obama's carbon pollution regulations from a barrage of Republican attacks—but are confident they have the votes to prevail, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) told Bloomberg BNA in an exclusive interview.
Several Democrats are working on ideas for more comprehensive climate legislation, but the party remains realistic that they are unlikely to move such bills while Congress is under Republican control, according to Schatz.
Instead, they will work to sustain an expected presidential veto of Republican-led bills attacking environmental regulations and resist congressional interference in Obama's efforts to make the U.S. a signatory to a global climate change accord to be finalized at year's end.
There are between 60 and 70 “grown-up” senators who “get it” about the need for U.S. climate action, but many currently lack the political safety net to speak out forcefully on the issue and survive, according to Schatz.
“In order to get to the kind of majority in the Congress that will eventually take action, we need mainstream Democrats and mainstream Republicans to understand that this is a national security issue, this is a farming issue, this is a shipping issue, this is a geopolitical issue,” Schatz said April 22. “And I think the main reason we're seeing some success is because we're right and the American people see that.”
Expects McConnell to Vigorously Fight EPA
Schatz, who joined the Senate in 2012 following the death of long-time Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), said Democrats expect Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to use “every bit of authority that he has” to fight Environmental Protection Agency rules that would for the first time put carbon pollution limits on the nation's fleet of power plants. But Democrats are “quite confident” they can defend the rules, the senator said.
Specifically, Schatz believes the Republican-led Senate will use the Congressional Review Act to force up-or-down votes on overturning the regulations. Some Democrats may go along and support those efforts, Schatz said, but Republicans don't have the 67 votes necessary to override any veto from Obama.
“I don't think we're going to be unanimous in our conference on CRA, and I think frankly the quicker we get through that, the quicker we can start to talk about” solutions, including future climate legislation, Schatz said.
Asked about another strategy for undermining the EPA power plant rules—McConnell's “just say no” approach urging states to essentially ignore the regulations—Schatz slammed the approach as illegal.
“[States] don't have the flexibility that Leader McConnell is perhaps wishing that they had,” Schatz said. “I think we disagree in terms of the authority that these states have to ignore the Clean Air Act.”
The EPA's proposed Clean Power Plan (RIN 2060-AR33), which the agency expects to finalize in mid-summer, would establish unique carbon dioxide emissions rates for the power sector in each state. States would be required to meet interim targets between 2020 and 2029, with a final emissions rate amounting to a 30 percent cut in 2030 from 2005 levels. States would have flexibility as to how best to meet their individual targets.
Interference From Congress Unwarranted
The Senate has no legal right to review the global climate accord that is slated to be signed in Paris because it will not be a treaty, Schatz said, and the Senate should not otherwise interfere with the long-understood authority of the executive branch to negotiate international agreements.
“If you subject every international agreement to Senate approval, you'd have a lot fewer international agreements,” Schatz said. “And you would disable the United States from leading on the world stage because you would have every committee and subcommittee chair interfering with every matter of national security or diplomatic policy.”
Subjecting the agreement—which is to be the first to include actions on greenhouse gas emissions from developed and developing nations alike—to a Senate vote would be a “dangerous precedent” and there is “real concern” such a move would undermine U.S. international leadership, Schatz said.
Climate Denial ‘Disqualifying' for President
Schatz agreed with comments Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) recently made that suggested denying the existence and the human role in climate change would be “disqualifying” for any Republican hoping to win the presidency in 2016.
“Even for voters that don't wake up in the morning thinking about climate change and wanting to take action, there's still this sense that you don't want your presidential candidate to have their head in the sand on a major issue,” Schatz said. “It may not top, necessarily, any list of priority items but it becomes disqualifying if your nominee just isn't reasonable when it comes to these things.”
As for his own personal role in the issue, Schatz said he is working to “build a team” and raise the profile of climate change issues to mainstream America.
“We've been relentless, we've been strategic and the group is growing,” Schatz said.
-
USDA to Use Incentives in Bid to Reduce Carbon Emissions From Agriculture, Forestry
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Nora Macaluso
The Obama administration plans to use a combination of voluntary programs authorized in the 2014 Farm Bill to encourage farmers, ranchers and landowners to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and increase the use of carbon sequestration, with the aim of cutting emissions by more than 120 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2025.
The Agriculture Department will promote actions that benefit soil health, improve nutrient management and conserve forest resources, as well as enhancing energy efficiency and renewable energy use, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in an April 23 speech at Michigan State University in East Lansing.
The program, he said, is based on 10 “building blocks” that cover a range of technologies and practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Those include soil health, nitrogen stewardship and livestock programs such as anaerobic digesters and lagoon covers designed to reduce methane emissions from cow and pig farms.
Part of Broader Plan
The initiative is part of President Barack Obama's broader goal of addressing climate change and will be a “very concrete component” of the U.S. commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025, Brian Deese, senior adviser to the president, who accompanied Vilsack to Michigan for the announcement, told reporters. That commitment, in turn, is part of a global accord to reduce emissions (219 DEN A-8, 11/13/14).
The USDA will establish thresholds and goals for each of the building blocks, Vilsack said. “I've asked my staff to update me on a quarterly basis, so we'll know whether we're on track to meet the goal in each of the building blocks,” he told reporters after his speech.
Farmers Understand, Vilsack Says
Although the strategies laid out in the program are voluntary, Vilsack said he doesn't expect problems getting farmers and other landowners to cooperate, as they are seeing the effects of climate change in the form of droughts, floods and other unusual weather events.
“They understand and appreciate the need to adapt and mitigate,” he said. Farmers and ranchers can also benefit economically from clean energy production, he said.
While there will be no new programs, “there will be more money in the system, because we're going to do a better job managing the resources,” Vilsack said. “We're going to expand technical assistance. We're looking at ways in which the [Natural Resources Conservation Service] staff will have more time in the field to work with individual producers.”
Companies such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and the Walt Disney Co., along with groups such as the Fertilizer Institute and the Nature Conservancy, are taking early emissions-reduction steps under the plan, according to a USDA fact sheet. The Environmental Defense Fund, for example, is working with General Mills Inc. and United Suppliers Inc. to help Wal-Mart with its goal of reducing emissions, USDA said.
-
Obama Looks to Farmers, Foresters to Fight Climate Change
Apr 23, 2015 | The Hill - E2 Wire
By Timothy Cama
The Obama administration announced a suite of voluntary programs Thursday aimed at getting farmers, ranchers and foresters to adopt more environmentally friendly practices.
The measures, overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), will prevent or sequester more than 120 million metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent greenhouse gases, the administration said.
The USDA will provide incentives for some of the measures.
“American farmers and ranchers are leaders when it comes to reducing carbon emissions and improving efficiency in their operations,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.
“We can build on this success in a way that combats climate change and strengthens the American agriculture economy,” he said. “Through incentive-based initiatives, we can partner with producers to significantly reduce carbon emissions while improving yields, increasing farm operation’s energy efficiency, and helping farmers and ranchers earn revenue from clean energy production.”
Vilsack and top Obama adviser Brian Deese traveled to Michigan State University on Thursday to announce the initiative.
It’s part of the White House’s events surrounding Earth Week, which this year includes a heavy focus on public lands, including national forests owned and managed by USDA’s Forest Service.
The USDA’s initiatives fall into 10 categories, including smarter use of nitrogen as a fertilizer, encouraging tree planting in urban areas, using more rotational grazing and growing and retaining privately owned forests.
“This is an innovative and creative effort to look across all of USDA’s programs and put forward voluntary and incentive-based programs that will increase the bottom lines of ranchers and farmers while reducing net greenhouse gas emissions,” Deese said in a statement.
Deese said the actions require no new actions or money from Congress.
-
FRA Collecting Information on Crude Oil Derailments
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
The Federal Railroad Administration will publish April 24 a notice regarding collection of information regarding crude oil train accidents. The railroad administration announced April 17 it would conduct the information collection, at the same time it announced its emergency order (E.O. 30) to implement additional speed restrictions for certain flammable liquid-carrying trains (75 DEN A-10, 4/20/15). The collection will be conducted by the FRA “to better address risks to railroad safety and the general public,” the notice said. Comments should be submitted using Docket ID No. FRA-2015-0007-N-2 by June 23. The notice is available at https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2015-09486.pdf.
-
Lithium Batteries Top Agenda for Industries, Regulators Ahead of Air Transport Meeting
Apr 24, 2015 | BNA Daily Environment Report
By Rachel Leven
In preparation for an international meeting on global air transport standards for dangerous goods, certain manufacturers sought to clarify April 23 what mitigation techniques that airlines and federal regulators see as necessary to ship lithium batteries safely as cargo on flights.
At the meeting, officials with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration also reacted skeptically to a proposal by battery and medical equipment manufacturers to consider excepting certain small lithium metal cells and batteries from specific air transport requirements. Additionally, regulators highlighted the U.S. proposal to restrict how electronic smoking devices can be transported and charged on flights.
The international standards are intended to improve the safety of shipping hazardous goods—from flammable liquids to lithium batteries—by air through implementing packaging instructions, quantity limitations and other requirements that lower risks such as fires. The standards are of interest to shippers and carriers alike, from companies such as the Boeing Co. to electrical and medical equipment manufacturers such as 3M.
Hazardous materials industry representatives and the federal regulators centered their discussions around U.S. comments on proposals scheduled to be considered at the upcoming April 27 through May 1 meeting in Montreal of the International Civil Aviation Organization's Dangerous Goods Panel Working Group.
The ICAO panel of member states will consider the proposed changes to Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air, which would then be submitted to the ICAO Air Navigation Commission and the ICAO council for approval and incorporation into the 2017-2018 technical instructions.
Lithium Batteries as Air Cargo
The International Coordinating Council of Aerospace Industries Associations (ICCAIA) and the International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations recommended in Working Paper No. 4 that the dangerous goods panel:
• establish adequate packaging and shipping requirements for transporting lithium ion batteries as cargo on passenger aircraft;
• bar “high-density packages” of these cells and batteries from being shipped on passenger flights until “safer methods of transport are established and followed”; and
• establish appropriate packaging and shipping standards for lithium metal and lithium ion batteries on freight aircraft.
The U.S. responded in its own Information Paper No. 2 that the delegation has requested feedback from other ICAO panels on operations and airworthiness of aircraft (Annex 6 and Annex 8, respectively).
Janet McLaughlin, deputy director for the FAA's Hazardous Material Safety Program, emphasized at the April 23 meeting that it is important for the Dangerous Goods Panel to work with other ICAO panels to come up with a strong mitigation strategy.
“We are very much aware that trying to make any changes in isolation may not get us where we want to go in the long run,” McLaughlin said.
Packaging Performance Standard
George Kerchner, executive director of PRBA-the Rechargeable Battery Association, asked whether the FAA could expand on what they would like to see from a packaging performance standard for these batteries, a question Boeing Technical Safety Chief Doug Ferguson and others said would be a useful conversation to have at the April 27-May 1 meeting.
Ferguson, who was also representing ICCAIA, clarified that “at this point in time, we have no specific concerns about other dangerous goods cargo. Our concern at the moment is focused on high-energy devices in high-density quantities.”
Meanwhile, Kerchner's group and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association had proposed in Working Paper 29 to exempt very small lithium metal cells and batteries, including cells and batteries made solely to be used for medical purposes, from any new overpack limitations.
However, Duane Pfund, international standards coordinator for PHMSA, said parts of the proposal, such as “regulating batteries by intended equipment use,” is “problematic” for regulators. Pfund highlighted concerns that “we keep carving out more” exceptions, which adds complexities and makes it more difficult to train individuals in how to handle a given material.
Kerchner said the groups could “fine-tune the proposal” and would like to work with regulators to address their concerns.
Electronic Smoking Devices
The U.S. also outlined its own proposal, Working Paper No. 24, that would bar flight passengers and crew members from carrying electronic smoking devices on board an aircraft in checked baggage and from charging these devices on board.
The devices could still be shipped as cargo and brought in carry-on luggage, regulators said.
The restrictions would apply to battery-powered electronic smoking devices, including e-cigarettes and personal vaporizers, regulators said.
Industry and Association News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Chemical Management News
Chemical Security News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Energy and Environment News
Transportation News
Full Text of Stories Below
Add recipients
Suggested